Trust Me
by joshiferdallas
Summary: After returning from Neverland, Emma and Regina's relationship had never been better. Not only were they talking, but also they were both spending time together with Henry — like a proper family. But will the return of unexpected things get in the way or even spark a possible romance? A Swan Queen AU fic (rated M for later chapters).
1. Chapter 1

_After returning from Neverland, Emma and Regina's relationship had never been better. Not only were they talking, but also they were both spending time together with Henry — like a proper family. But will the return of unexpected things get in the way or even spark a possible romance? A Swan Queen AU fic._

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**Okay, so everyone's back in Storybrooke and Pan is currently in the hands of Rumple. This was started with knowledge up until 308 so of course there is going to be things in the upcoming episodes that won't be in this, so from that episode this is an AU. This is also my first Swan Queen story (apart from a one shot), so just go with it! ;)**

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**CHAPTER ONE**

"Hey, mom, I'm home!" Henry bellowed as he threw himself through the door of the mansion that he had returned to share with Regina when they arrived back in Storybrooke after their Neverland _adventure_.

Pounding his way through the hallway, Henry ran into the living room to find both Emma and Regina laughing on the couch with a glass of wine in their hands. Neither of them noticed his entrance, so any sudden movement from him would have been enough for either of them to react.

"Hey..." Henry said after he cleared his throat quiet enough not to startle his mothers.

"Oh, hello dear." Regina said, turning around to see her son standing in the doorway. "How was your first day back?"

"It was great! I just wish that it wasn't a Friday so I could go back again tomorrow..." Henry started before getting overly excited and talking through word vomit. "My new teacher let me tell the entire class about what happened in Neverland, and how you two defeated Pan and rescued me, and how Grandpa almost died, and how Pan is actually my great grandfather and-"

"You told them that!?" Emma cut him off, beginning to regret that she had actually told him about his entire family on the Jolly Rodger during their return.

"Yeah!" Henry said, still too excited about telling them the story of his day to calm down. "It was great, I had to draw out my family tree on the whiteboard because everyone got confused, even my teacher did!"

"I bet she did," Regina muttered under her breath so it was loud enough for Emma to catch it and laugh, but quiet enough that Henry would just ignore his slightly amused mothers.

"So, what are you doing here, Emma?" Henry wondered, realizing that the two women sat on the couch was an odd sight to see.

"What? Do you not want me here?" Emma teased. "Your mom invited me for dinner so the three of us could spend sometime together."

"Really!?" Henry beamed before running at Regina with a huge hug.

"Hey, kid, don't I get one?" Emma poked, making Regina let out a quiet laugh.

To Emma's surprise, Henry stuck out his arm to invite his birth mother into the hug that he still hadn't broken with Regina. Obeying her child, she wrapped her arm around his waist and hugged him, being careful not to touch Regina, just in case she decided to flip out and cancel their entire night together.

"Okay, before you can sit down to watch some TV, you need to make sure your homework is done, Henry." Regina dictated as she wedged herself out of her son's tight grasp, which told him to let go of Emma too.

"But can't I-" Henry started before noticing that Regina was glaring at him. "Fine. But can I ask what you two were laughing so hard at when I got home?"

"You." Emma smiled, "We were laughing about you. Obviously I never got to see what you were like as you were growing up, so your mom thought I would like to hear some funny stories about you."

Henry's cheeks turned bright red at the thought of what Regina may had told Emma while he was at school. The look of horror on his face made Emma almost erupt with laughter, Regina on the other hand, was fighting away her giggles in order to keep a straight face.

"Which stories did you tell her...?" He questioned, standing frozen like a statue in front of his mothers.

"Well," Regina looked at Emma who was biting her bottom lip to hide the huge smile across her face. "Do you remember that time where I took you to the pond to feed the ducks?"

Henry's face looked puzzled. Clearly she hadn't told him this little story.

"Rather than letting go of the piece of bread that you had in your hand, you threw yourself into the pond along with the bread." Henry's eyes widened with embarrassment as Regina began to continue with the list of stories she had. "Then I told her about a few mishaps we had during your potty training-"

"Oh my god!" Henry yelled to cut off his mother from saying anything else and threw his hands over his ears, "Mom you're so embarrassing! You promised you wouldn't tell anyone about those stories!"

With the sound of Emma hysterically laughing by the side of her, Regina couldn't help but join in, but with a slightly calmer and elegant approach, making Henry grow redder and redder before running out of the room and up the stairs to his bedroom. Emma sipped at her wine to calm herself and began to question if the wine was making her incredibly giggly or if it was just the nerves of being alone with Regina.

"Sometimes I wish I was there to see him grow up." Emma sighed and placed the wine glass on the table in front of them. "You did a great job though, raising him, I mean. He's a great kid Regina, and I just want to thank you for the life you've given him."

Regina looked at Emma in disbelief that the daughter of Snow White was actually thanking her for doing something right. "Thank you, Miss Swan. However, in the eyes of many people, the life that he lived over the last month or so has most certainly been an unsafe one and I can't help but feel responsible for everything that happened."

"You can't blame yourself for that. Technically, it was August's fault for what he did in Hong Kong when he met Tamara. But then there's also the fact that Neal dated the woman and brought her to Storybrooke." Emma almost felt to blame when she looked back on the situation. Not only was she connected to Neal, but also if August hadn't travelled with her through the tree, none of this would have happened. "I think it would be safe to begin to highly dislike and distrust men after this situation." Emma laughed and made Regina smile.

"I couldn't agree with you any more, dear." Regina said as she took another sip of her wine.

Emma coughed at the sound of Regina agreeing with something she said and looked at her in a state of shock.

"What on earth are you gawping at, Miss Swan?" Regina said, using her index finger to push up Emma's jaw that had dropped with a comical look.

"Are you feeling okay? You just agreed with something that I said."

"Well, dear, sometimes you do say things that I slightly agree with, and that was something I completely agree with." Regina raised an eyebrow at the immature blonde sat before her and watched her process the thoughts streaming through her mind.

"Well then," Emma started before picking up her wine glass. "Lets toast, here's to not trusting men again. Well, for a little while at least."

Regina smiled and clinked her wine glass with Emma's and look a large swig before setting it down on the table in front of her. Then she looked down at her watch to find that it was later than she expected and bushed off her legs before standing.

"I'm going to start dinner. You're welcome to put the television on if you wish." Regina said as she started to leave the living room afore turning on her heel to face Emma. "Just don't spill any of that wine on my couch."

Emma raised an eyebrow at Regina's childish comment and decided to join the other woman in the kitchen. After spending so much time with Regina, Emma knew that she wasn't as bad as she previously thought. She was just incredibly uptight and damaged. The latter of which, Regina would never admit to.

"What are we having?" Emma asked as she leaned on the marble counter in Regina's kitchen.

"Since I know how much you enjoyed my lasagna at your welcome home party at Granny's, I thought I ought to make another for you." Regina remembered how awkward that party had actually been for her. The only people that wanted her there was Emma and Henry, whereas everyone else gave her disgusting looks throughout the entire night.

"Any poison in it this time, your majesty?" Emma teased and hit a nerve in Regina.

"Very funny, Miss Swan. You know full well that my chili flakes are the only suspicious substance in the entire recipe." Regina said with a smug smile.

"Nope, I'm positive there's a hint of sarcasm in there too."

"Miss Swan, you should know that I am not afraid to hit you with this towel." Regina held up the kitchen towel that she had been using to put the lasagna in the oven and twirled it a little to frighten Emma.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Emma said throwing her hands in the air to surrender with a light laugh.

"I thought you might be."

Regina continued to prepare the meal as Emma remained next to the refrigerator with her arms crossed and leaning on the counter, watching every move Regina made. The woman moved with such elegance and regality that Emma couldn't take her eyes off her as she flitted around the kitchen.

Neither of them had realized that they had been standing in the kitchen in complete silence for at least ten minutes. There hadn't really been any need to talk, as both women felt comfortable with the company of the other without feeing awkward in any way.

Breaking their silence by running down the stairs with a heavy-footed stride, Henry was feeling far too excited about spending some quality time with both of his mothers.

"Hey, Emma, wanna go watch some tv?" Henry said as he jumped through the doorway of the kitchen.

"Hold up, I need the two of you to set the table." Regina interrupted before Emma could answer and handed the blonde a tray of condiments. "Dinner will be ready by the time the two of you have finished."

Henry's shoulders lowered as he slumped away into the dining room. Emma followed behind and gently nudged her son in acknowledgement of spotting his tiny little tantrum.

"Hey, don't show off, kid. She's good to you. Besides, all she asked you to do was to set the table and she even sent me to help. If it was me, I would have made you do it all on your own!" Emma poked out her tongue and tickled Henry's ribs.

Squirming under the tickles, Henry let out a loud laugh. He hadn't realised how much he had missed having Emma around and now that Regina was willing to invite his birth over to spend time with him made him really appreciate everything that she did for him.

The two quickly set the table in anticipation of tucking into what Regina had prepared. This meal would be the first home cooked meal that Emma had eaten since returning from Neverland. She had spent the entire time eating take-out food from Granny's or asking her mother to heat up a frozen pizza for her.

"Here you go, Henry." Regina said as she handed Henry his dinner plate when he arrived in the kitchen with Emma once again. "And this one is yours, Miss Swan." She handed Emma her plate with a smile, which Emma returned immediately.

"Thanks, Regina." Emma said, still smiling at the brunette. "It smells delicious."

"And it's going to get cold too, if you don't stop standing there and smiling at me like you're a six year old who has just been given a bag of candy."

Emma rolled her eyes and joined Henry in the dining room, who had already started eating his food.

"Wow, someone's eager." Emma laughed at her son who was shoveling his lasagna into his mouth faster than anyone she's ever seen. "Henry slow down. You're going to make yourself sick."

"No way, Mom's lasagna is the best." Henry said through a full mouth.

Emma waited for Regina's arrival in the dining room to actually start eating her food, unlike Henry, who was almost finished. When Emma looked up to find Regina in the doorway carrying her plate, a bottle of wine and two more wine glasses, she couldn't help but rush over to help her by taking the wine and the glasses out of her hands.

"Thank you, Miss Swan." Regina let out a sigh of relief at the fact that she didn't smash anything.

Regina sat herself on the end of the long rectangular table with Henry to her left and Emma on her right. Before starting her food, she poured two glasses of red wine and handed one to Emma and kept on for herself.

Henry, on the other hand, had taken a can of sugar-free soda from the fridge before running into the dining room to completely destroy the food on his plate. As disgusting as that was, Regina couldn't help but laugh at the similarities between Henry and his birth mother. The only difference between the two of them was how much Henry looked like his grandmother. With his thick dark hair, distinctively pink lips and pale skin it was almost unmissable.

The three sat in silence until Henry had completely cleared his plate and decided that he wanted to lead the conversation.

"This is a stupid question, I know," Henry stalled, grabbing the attention of both of his mothers. "Are you two friends now?"

The question shocked both Emma and Regina. Neither of them had thought about a possible friendship between the two of them. They both felt obliged to hate each other from day one, especially due to the fact that not only was Emma Henry's birth mother, but she was also the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White - the Evil Queen's arch enemies. Neither of them had actually even considered getting to know the other before deciding that they disliked each other.

"Um, I guess so." Emma stuttered and looked towards Regina for an approval.

"Yes, Henry. Emma and I are friends now." Regina said confidently. "Emma and I spent a lot of time together on Neverland whilst looking for you and we got to get to know each other."

Emma shot a grateful smile at Regina before returning to her food that was indeed getting cold.

"So does that mean that you're going to be friends with my grandparents?" Henry quizzed with a hopeful look on his face.

"Um, well, I don't really-" Regina stuttered, feeling speechless for the first time in years.

"They're going to try to get along, Henry." Emma said, as she watched Regina get slightly flustered for the first time. "You see, your mom and my mom have never really gotten along, so it's going to be difficult for them to get used to having each other around again."

"But you will try though, won't you, mom?" Henry plead with a glimmer of hope remaining in his eyes.

"Yes, Henry. The Charmings and I are going to attempt to get along." She muttered in a regrettable tone.

Henry grinned at his mothers who were both nervously swigging their wine to avoid any more questions about Regina's relationship with Emma's parents.

"Okay." He said, still smiling. "Can I go watch tv?"

"Sure," Regina sighed. "But take your plate into the kitchen and rinse it so I can was it later."

Henry grabbed his plate as fast as he could and ran into the kitchen, leaving Emma and Regina alone in silence.

"Did you actually tell your mother that I had invited you for dinner?" Regina eventually asked, filling the silence.

"Yeah." Emma began and noticed the comic look on Regina's face. "She was actually really concerned. She thought you were going to attempt to kill me or something of the sort. I think she would have preferred to have heard me telling her that I was going on a date with Hook or something."

"Oh, she's an idiot." Regina snorted. "Do you actually see anything in that man?"

"No, not really." Emma laughed, feeling as though the question Regina had asked had a fairly obvious answer.

"I would love to cut off that other hand of his. I'd like to see how smug he would be completely handless." Regina smiled at the image of Killian Jones waving around two silver hooks on his wrists.

"I'm surprised that you didn't stick to his clichéd fairy tale story and choose to cut off his leg and watch him hop around with a wooden stump." Emma giggled.

"Surprisingly, I now have a mental image of Jones waddling around with a wooden leg and two hook hands." Regina laughed and took another sip of her wine.

The two fell into another short silence until they had both finished their meal, to which Emma was most grateful for.

"Thank you, Regina." Emma said as soon as she had finished. "You were right, I do really enjoy your lasagna."

Regina merely smiled at the blonde's compliment; still unsure whether whatever she said was the honest truth. She had finished her meal almost momentarily after Emma and was feeling rather eager for the two of them to join their son in front of the television before his bed time. Removing the napkin she had placed upon her lap and dapped her mouth with it, Regina stood and reached for Emma's plate. To her surprise, her hand was swatted away and Emma picked up both hers and Regina's plates off of the table and headed for the kitchen. With both wine glasses still half full, Regina carried the two into the kitchen so they could finish them later that evening.

"Do you two have some sort of routine where one washes and the other dries the dishes?" Emma asked as she gently set the plates down on the counter next to the sink and turned to look at Regina.

"I usually wash and Henry used to dry." She replied, handing the blonde the wine glass without the red lipstick stains.

"Okay, then I'll take Henry's place." Emma said and picked up the kitchen towel that Regina had threatened to hit her with shortly before sitting down to their meal. "Now I have the control." Emma whispered as she repeated the same action that Regina had.

"Are you sure you want to do that, Miss Swan?" Regina held a smug grin on her face as she raised her empty right hand and formed an immediate fireball in the palm of her hand.

"That's totally not fair, Madam Mayor!" Emma shouted and tried to find cover by hiding under the breakfast bar.

"Oh, come on _Savior. _Both you and I know that you have and can use magic once you set your mind to it."

"Easy for you to say, your _majesty_. Not all of us were raised in the Enchanted Forest and taught how to use magic by Rumplestiltskin." Emma said as she twirled the towel a little more before grabbing the end and standing from underneath the breakfast bar. "So you have an unfair advantage!"

"What are you going to do, call your mom?" Regina aggravated and placed her wine glass out of reach.

"I don't know, maybe my dad would bring the _White Knight_ her sword." Emma boasted with a cocky stance.

"Oh yes, isn't that the sword that you just so aimlessly wave around praying that you're going to hit someone or something, just so you can tell everyone about it?" Regina mocked, knowing how clumsy and inexperienced Emma was with both magic and sword fighting. "Who would have thought that Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter, the Savior, would be so terrible at defending herself?"

By now Emma was feeling agitated and really wanted to use magic to prove Regina wrong, but every time she had actually attempted to use magic, it either backfired or she had the help of either Regina or Rumplestiltskin.

"Fine. Lets do this." Emma said and threw the towel onto the floor and stared straight at Regina.

"Just remember, think hard and powerful at what you want to happen, and if you're doing it right, it will actually happen, Miss Swan, trust me." Regina said calmly, as if Emma's magical incapabilities didn't faze her for a second, but inside, she was terrified because only she truly knew how powerful Emma was.

Emma stood in the middle of the kitchen with her legs at her shoulders width apart, with her arms by her side, her shoulders back and a stare on her face that made even Regina begin to tremble. When she tried, Emma could look like the most powerful person in the room and right now, that was one thing she could say she had over Regina. Taking a deep breath, Emma closed her eyes and thought harder than ever before, causing her entire body to begin to shake and pulsate. Slowly, she opened her eyes and glared at Regina.

"War is on." She growled and lifted her right hand into a claw shape, ready to conjure the same ball of fire that Regina was still holding in her own hand.

Still waiting, Regina was beginning to worry that Emma would think too hard and cause the entire house to go up in flames with the three of them still inside. Regina continued to watch Emma close her eyes once again and she put out the fireball in her hand that she had been threatening to throw at the blonde. '_No way is she going to do this._' Regina thought to herself.

A huge purple puff of smoke shook Regina from her thoughts and Emma's eyes shot open. It had taken Regina a few moments to realize what had just happened right in front of her eyes. Not only had the blonde performed magic, oh no, but she was currently holding a gigantic cupcake in her hand.

"What the fuck?" Emma shouted before whacking her free hand at her mouth, hoping that Henry didn't hear her foul language.

"Oh, congratulations, Miss Swan." Regina said through fits of laughter. "You're about as talented as your mother."

"Hey, I could still throw this at you, you know." Emma said, raising the cupcake a little higher. "You told me that it was going to work and I ended up conjuring a _bloody_ cupcake! You caused this, didn't you?"

"I had nothing to do with that little mishap at all, dear." Regina chuckled.

By now the sound of Regina's laughter had echoed through the entire house causing Henry to come rushing into the kitchen to find Regina downing the remains of the wine in her glass and Emma still holding a gigantic cupcake with a befuddled look across her face.

"Were you two just using _magic_...?" Henry asked as he pointed at the giant cupcake.

"It was your mom's fault!" Emma yelled before realizing what she had just said.

"You are actually like a child, Miss Swan." Regina said as she rolled her eyes. "What really happened Henry, is that your mother decided that she wanted to whip me with a towel, so I conjured a fireball to scare her and it escalated to a point where she almost killed me with a cupcake." The smile on Regina's face only grew more as she tormented Emma, whose facial expression changed from a scowl to a murderous glare. "Actually, it's a good job you can't conjure those fireballs, dear, otherwise we would have an awful lot of frosting all over my kitchen floor, and without magic, I don't know how long that would take you to clean!"

"Mom, stop teasing her! She's still learning, and I thought you two had promised to stop using magic. You both lied to me. Again." Henry shouted and sounded a lot angrier with mothers than he was actually showing.

"Henry, no one was harmed and it was just a little fun. Trust me, we wouldn't lie to you about this, Henry." Regina said, crossing the room and placing her hand on Henry's shoulder.

"I will only trust the two of you if I can have the entire cupcake." Henry bargained. "To myself."

"No way." Emma protested.

"Yes, Henry. You can have the entire cupcake. But you can't eat it all at once." Regina said before turning to Emma who was still holding the cupcake in her hand. "And the only reason you don't want Henry to have it all '_to himself_' is because you want it, don't you, sheriff?"

Emma's face turned bright red, almost the same colour that Henry's had turned earlier that evening when Regina told him that they had discussed some of his childhood stories. This was Emma's giveaway to Regina that told her that what she had predicted was completely correct. Emma was a walking, talking, twenty-eight year old child and Regina was determined to never let her forget that.

"I'm sure I could conjure myself another one, why would I want Henry's?" Emma said, raising her eyebrows and passing the giant cupcake to Henry before becoming face to face with Regina. "You're only reacting like this because you thought that I couldn't perform any sort of magic on my own, aren't you, Madam Mayor?"

"Ha! Of course not, Miss Swan. I knew you could perform magic on your own, I just didn't expect it to have been so... what's the word? Oh, _dangerous." _Regina smirked.

Within a matter of seconds, Emma had gone from standing face to face with Regina Mills to running across the kitchen to grab the towel that she threw on the floor before her little fiasco. When noticing what Emma had done, Regina's face turned a horrible shade of grey.

"Don't even think about it, Miss Swan!" She shouted and pointed at Emma who was once again twirling the towel around and getting ready to flick it.

By now, Henry had become a little bored with their playful feud and left the two of them to get off their high horses so he could enjoy his gigantic cupcake in peace in front of the tv.

"What are you going to do if I actually do it, Mayor Mills? Punish me?" Emma flashed a wicked smile at Regina and ran towards her with the towel.

"No! Emma, please don't!" Regina begged.

"Say it, Regina."

"What?" Regina bit, not having any clue about what Emma meant.

"You know, Regina. Say it. Say those two little words that you never want to say, especially to me." Emma said as she took a step towards Regina.

"Fine!" She shouted and held up her hands. "I.. surr..der.." She muttered.

"I'm sorry, madam mayor, I don't think I caught that."

"I surrender! Okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?" Regina said, feeling her cheeks flush into a bright red colour, ironically the same way both Emma and Henry's had turned that evening.

"Thank you!" Emma smiled and wandered back to the kitchen sink and waited for Regina to start washing the dishes for her to dry.

"You are unbelievable." Regina sighed and joined Emma at the sink. "I'm positive that Henry is more mature than you are."

"Says the queen who just so happened to join in with that little turn of events." Emma smirked and took a dripping wet plate from Regina's hand.

"Miss Swan, we're not even going to continue this conversation, okay?" Regina said sternly, just to make sure that Emma knew where she stood.

With a slight nod, Emma continuted to dry the dishes that Regina was handing over to her in utter silence until they had finished and out all of the cleaned items in their designated areas. Regina looked at the clock on the wall the read; 9:10pm. There was only twenty minutes left until Henry's bedtime, in which Regina was going to take advantage of.

"Shall we join Henry with another glass of wine, Miss Swan?" Regina questioned, breaking their long silence. "When he lived with me his bedtime was always 9:30 and I would rather stick to old routine."

"Yeah, I'd like that. Whenever Henry stays at the apartment with us, his bedtime has always been 9:30. The poor kid couldn't keep his eyes awake any longer!" Emma laughed and remembered how innocent he would look when he fell asleep in her fathers arms whilst watching tv just after his bedtime.

"I don't even want to think about his sleeping schedule in Neverland. No doubt he passed out a few times in the middle of their camp from lack of sleep." Regina said as she poured two more glasses of wine and still feeling guilty about Henry's mix up with his great grandfather, Peter Pan.

With their fresh glasses of wine, Emma and Regina returned to the living room to find Henry fast asleep on the couch and covered in white and blue frosting. He had eaten the entire cupcake and left crumbs everywhere.

"Clearly ignorance is something in the genes." Regina muttered as she tried to clean up the mess around her son.

"This is a Neverland habit." Emma admitted, not even bothering to argue with what Regina had just said. "Before all of that happened he wouldn't have dared to eat the entire thing and to leave such a big mess? That is something he's recently picked up on because he surely didn't catch that from either of us."

Regina agreed and stuck out her arm over Henry, causing purple smoke to appear once again and within seconds, he had disappeared.

"Regina, what did you do...?" Emma asked in a slow and calm manner in hope the Regina would try fighting with her.

"He's currently in bed, in his pyjamas and fast asleep, Miss Swan." Regina said as she took a seat on the couch infront of the tv with her glass of wine. "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to join me?"

"I'm sorry," Emma said, shaking her head. "I thought tonight was about spending time between the three of us." She muttered with a yawn as she sat beside Regina and cradled the glass of wine in her hands. "But in reality, the two of us have spent more time together than we have with Henry all night."

Regina knew that Emma was right, but she also knew that the two of them needed to spend some time together before actually diving straight into this 'group parenting'. In the four hours the Regina had spent with Emma, the more she learnt about the birth mother of her child. In fact, in those four hours, she learnt more about Emma than when she camped with her and her parents in the middle of Neverland for a week.

"Are you not satisfied with my company, Miss Swan?" Regina raised an eyebrow at the blonde who yawned again as she shook her head.

"I never said that." Emma rubbed her eyes like a child.

"So now I know where our son gets it from. Without adrenaline, you're incapable of staying awake any longer than Henry." Regina slowly became amused at how tired Emma had actually become. "You're also incapable of holding a wine glass straight when you're tired, Miss Swan."

Emma looked down at the tilted wine glass to find that it was almost spilling onto Regina's couch and straightened it before quickly resting it on the coffee table in front of them. Regina smirked at Emma and placed her own glass on the table and reached for the television remote.

"I don't actually watch television." Regina admitted as she flicked through the endless number of channels.

"Oh, the Walking Dead is on! You should totally watch it, it's about surviving a zombie apocalypse." Emma excitedly pointed at the screen, completely forgetting how tired she was.

"Well, that's terribly morbid." Regina muttered as she took a sip of wine and passed the remote to Emma.

"I could have sworn that you were in to things that involved death, your majesty." Emma said, which earned her a glare from the woman sitting next to her.

Emma knew that she was slowly beginning to enjoy Regina's company, even if they did spend the majority of their time together bickering like an old married couple. Neither of them really felt the need to talk when they were together, the silence was enough for both of them to understand the other.

After being glued to the show on the television screen for ten minutes, Regina felt her own eyes begin to get heavy. She didn't even have the energy nor will power to actually tell Emma to go home, who was in fact still yawning and rubbing her eyes with her feet curled up on the couch under her bottom. Failing to fight off her exhaustion, Regina gave in and let her eyes slowly fall and encased her in a deep sleep.

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**Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and it would be great if you could review so that I know whether or not you guys like it and whether you would like to see it continuted. This chapter was a lot longer than I expected, so hopefully (if I'm inspired enough), the rest of my chapters will be at an equal length! Chapter two will be up soon (:**


	2. Chapter 2

_After returning from Neverland, Emma and Regina's relationship had never been better. Not only were they talking, but also they were both spending time together with Henry — like a proper family. But will the return of unexpected things get in the way or even spark a possible romance? A Swan Queen AU fic._

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**A/N - Hello guys! I just wanted to thank all of you for reading, following, favouriting, reviewing and recommending my last chapter! I can't believe the response I had, so I'm going against what I intended on doing - I was going to update once a week, but I've decided against it. This story is now going to be updated twice a week. It's going to be randomly updated, so keep checking! A massive thanks to all of the guest reviewers that I couldn't send thank you messages to! I also want to thank Cariad19 for helping me to decided whether or not Emma was going to fireball Regina or conjure a cupcake, which you guys seemed to love! **

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**CHAPTER TWO**

"You guys actually fell asleep together?" Henry asked as he spotted Regina's head resting in Emma's curvaceous waist, with the blonde's arm draped over her shoulder. Henry's question barely stirred his mothers who were still fast asleep on the couch. "Moms!"

Jumping simultaneously, their eyes shot open to find Henry standing in front of them with his arms folded across his chest and a disapproving look on his face. It took Regina longer than expected to realise the position she had awakened in and pushed herself off Emma before shooting a scowl at her that could have burnt down the entire town within seconds.

"Oh, I completely forgot how delightful you are in the mornings." Emma rubbed her eyes and watched the overreacting former queen attempt to compose herself.

"You guys had a sleepover and didn't tell me? Hey, Emma, are you going to be staying over more often?" Henry pleaded like an over excited puppy.

"I doubt it kid. Your mom and I were watching tv just after you went to bed and we accidentally fell asleep." Emma replied with a tired yawn, feeling the tension build between herself and Regina.

The disappointment on Henry's face was enough to break Emma's heart. It was also enough to force her not to look at Regina, just in case she glared at her again and actually threw a fireball at her this time. Regina stood and attempted to fix her hair before walking over to Henry and kissing the top of his head.

"Good morning, Henry. Can I make you some breakfast?" She asked in the most motherly tone Emma had heard from her in weeks.

"Could you make me some pancakes and a cup of hot cocoa with cinnamon?" He asked, still grinning at the sight he found when he woke.

"Of course." Regina smiled at her son before turning her face to stone as she turned to the blonde still sprawled comfortably on her couch. "Miss Swan, could I have a word with you in the kitchen, please?"

Her tone was more demanding than questioning, so Emma rose to her feet and followed the other woman into the kitchen, leaving their son behind to watch cartoons in his pyjamas. As the two turned into the kitchen, Emma attempted to avoid eye contact with the brunette at all costs.

"Miss Swan, I don't believe I recall mentioning a 'sleepover' when I asked you to dinner yesterday." Regina interrogated, placing her hands on her hips.

"Me neither, your majesty. But I do believe that you were incredibly insistent on spending some time with me." Emma raised her eyebrows at Regina, who seemed to be making a bigger deal out of the situation than she needed to.

"Indeed I was, however to your dismay, I believe than my intentions were for Henry's sake, not so the two of us would wake up in each others arms on my couch after watching '_Walking Zombies_', or whatever it's called."

"It's _Walking Dead_, Regina." Emma snorted at the frustration of the other woman. "Don't worry, Madam Mayor, I wouldn't put your precious town into such a jealous state of your position."

"And what position might that be, Miss Swan?" Regina pressed.

"Oh, you know; I wouldn't want the town feeling jealous that the mayor gets to sleep with the Sheriff after a meal and several bottles of wine." Knowing that she was getting under Regina's skin already, Emma couldn't hold her tongue anymore.

"Sheriff, I think you should know that I spared you last night from getting hit by one of my fireballs. Don't make me regret that decision anymore that I already have."

"Come off it, Regina. I know you secretly like me." Emma said with a shit-eating grin and stepped into Regina's personal space. "You're just too afraid to admit that you've gone soft for the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming."

"And you're awfully sure of yourself, dear." Regina stepped back and hit her hip on the kitchen counter, trapping her in front of Emma who continued to step into her personal space.

"Of course I am. Look at you, you're scared to admit it!" Emma taunted and brought fire into Regina's eyes. "Who would have thought that the Evil Queen would suddenly become so..._vulnerable_?"

By now, Emma and Regina were face to face with their noses almost touching. This wasn't exactly the first time that they had been so close, but for Regina, this time was a lot more intimidating. The last time it was merely Regina begging for Emma to help her to save Henry from the collapsing mine. It was clear to her that her emotions were controlling her body that day, but she couldn't decipher whether it was just emotions over Henry or if it was something else. Someone else.

"I am not vulnerable." Regina snapped, feeling the pang of Emma's judgement. That was one thing she didn't expect to feel, especially from Emma Swan. "Especially not around you. My vulnerability died years ago."

"You are such a liar." Emma whispered as she watched Regina's gaze flicker from her green eyes to her lips. She had felt something between herself and Regina ever since their first meeting. It was almost as if Regina had understood her from the very first moment. But until now, Emma thought that it was a one sided battle - that was until she saw the way Regina trembled under her glare thistle uncomfortable she looked as she was cornered, eventhough so wasn't willing to do anything about it. With a slight smirk, Emma leaned in closer to the older woman and whispered in a demanding tone, "Kiss me."

Emma had expected Regina to slap her so hard that her hand would probably fly through one side of her cheek and come flying out of the other. Instead, Regina looked deeper into the blonde's eyes before taking her around the neck to pull her closer and glancing at her lips before closing the gap. Neither woman hesitated once their lips smashed together. It was as if they had waited their entire lives for this moment, savouring every second of it as their tongues pushed through and fought in each others mouths, causing both women to grip onto the other a lot tighter than they already had.

Regina lowered her hand onto Emma's chest and pushed her away a little and disconnected their lips. However, she refused to let go of the blonde and lingered in Emma's personal space to stare into her eyes to find the answer of why she had just done such an idiotic thing.

"Why did I do that...?" Regina questioned herself out loud and finally let go of Emma, but kept her gaze as tight as possible. Feelings ran through her body faster than anything had before and a heavy tugging weighed her heart in her chest. What had Emma done to her?

"Like I said, you like me." Emma said with a wink and backed off a little. She felt far too over confident to be smiling as much as she was. But she held onto the possibility that Regina actually liked her back, especially after she kissed her. Besides, what was the worst she could do - singe her eyebrows?

Regina shot another glare at the infuriating blonde in front of her. Even though she wanted to kiss the blonde again, something in her mind was fighting against her heart that she shouldn't be doing this. Having Emma's body so close to her own caused a flooding feeling that she wanted more - that she never wanted to lose contact with the blone or she would, metaphorically, drown.

"Did you guys just feel that?" Henry shouted as he came running into the kitchen, interrupting both of his mothers thoughts.

"Feel what, kid?" Emma asked, feeling oblivious to everything around her but Regina, who was uncharacteristically attempting to shy away by the kitchen stove.

"That massive earthquake like two minutes ago." He replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

Emma and Regina quickly looked at each other with nervous expressions, reassuring each other that it was most certainly not their kiss that caused it. Besides, they reminded themselves, kisses only cause earthquakes if they're kisses of true love to break a curse. Interrupting the confusion in the kitchen was the sudden sound of Regina's home phone, which Henry gladly ran to answer.

"Hello?...Oh, hey Gramps,...Yeah Emma's here...sure, I'll hand you over." Henry grinned as he passed the phone to his birth mother.

"Hey David, what's up?...no, Henry did though. What was it?...Oh...sure, I'll pick you up in twenty minutes...bye." Emma ended the call and sighed before handing the phone back to Henry who was watching her every move.

"What was it?" Regina finally asked, feeling the tension rise even higher.

"He has no idea. So, because I'm the Sheriff, I have to go around the town to try to piece together what happened." Emma looked towards Regina who was attempting to hide a look of regret on her face. "Hey Henry, go watch cartoons for a sec'. I need to talk to your mom, then I have to go save the town."

Emma winked at her son before he ran back into the living room to enjoy the rest of his morning.

Regina raised her eyebrows and folded her arms across her chest, the same way Henry had when he woke them only minutes ago. "Why the hell did you kiss me?" Regina hissed through gritted teeth.

"Actually, you closed the gap _and_ wrapped your arms around my neck. Something you would care to admit, your majesty?" Emma smiled and imitated Regina by folding her arms over her chest too.

"Not in the slightest, Miss Swan." Regina eased off a little before leaning back onto the counter and thinking of how to change the subject. "So, what was the earthquake about, since you probably caused it with the lack of control you have over your magic." She smirked and waited for a sarcastic comment to fly at her.

"Clearly I didn't cause it because _you_ were kissing _me_ when it happened." Emma said in a childlike manner. "But my Dad thinks that we should go check it out since I'm still Sheriff and you're the mayor again." Emma muttered as she unfolded her arms and plunged her hands into her jeans pockets, feeling the tension between herself and Regina.

"Miss Swan, I hope we're not going to have a problem here." Regina looked at Emma who was swaying in front of her with a stupid looking grin on her face. "Look, people still don't trust me and it wouldn't really be a good idea for me to get involved."

"Madam Mayor, it's still your town. People reelected you, so they do want to see you there." Emma insisted.

"Fine." Regina hid a sulk and stood up from the counter. "Just this once, Miss Swan, and no funny business. And most certainly no magical cupcakes."

Emma rolled her eyes at the woman's attempt at immaturity. "Go get dressed, Regina. I agreed with David that we would pick him up in the cruiser in a couple of minutes."

"I hope you're not serious about this, Sheriff. Not only did you fall asleep on my couch, you also kissed me and now you think that you can boss me around my home? I don't know what you think that little moment meant, but you should understand that I'm not interested." Regina huffed and barged past Emma.

"Go get dressed, Regina." Emma demanded with a sigh and followed Regina out of the kitchen until she reached the hall and headed towards the living area to find Henry grinning at her on the couch. "Hey kid, what are you looking at?"

"I saw you."

"What did you see?" Emma said, feeling nerves build up inside the pit of her stomach.

"I saw the two of you kiss." He was still grinning as he dodged a light jab from Emma. "Are you two dating?"

"Oh my god, no." Emma erupted into an uncontrollable laugh. "No, Henry. Your mom and I are not dating."

"But you like her though, don't you. I know you do!" Henry's excitement almost stopped him from remaining in a whisper, except for the moment he leaned into Emma to whisper into her ear. "Because I know that she likes you too."

Before Emma could process what her son had told her, he jumped off the couch and ran into the kitchen, knowing that neither of his moms would be making him breakfast anytime soon. Emma stood like a statue whilst she processed her thoughts. It hadn't even occurred to her that she actually liked Regina in such a way until she asked the woman to kiss her only moments before. She had always looked at Regina to be a complete hard-ass and was secretly terrified of her until their little family adventure in Neverland. The thought of the kiss that they shared in the kitchen made Emma's knees go weak. For some reason she craved Regina's touch, her smell, her forcefulness and her kiss.

**'****_Am I falling in love with Emma Swan?_****'** A voice rattled inside Emma's head, completely confusing her before realising thwaste voice belonged to Regina. Questioning her sanity, Emma gripped hold of her head as if to shake out the voice that swam through her thoughts. Clicking herself out of her confusing thoughts, Emma looked around the room to see if Regina had decided to make an appearance. The room was still empty.

She glanced down at her watch before running into the entrance hall and shouting up the stairs; "Regina, come on! Shenanigans don't just wait, you know."

"Yes dear, I know." Regina said as she appeared behind Emma in a whirl of purple smoke. She had completely changed her outfit, fixed her make-up and still managed to change her hair. "Henry, you're going to have to stay here for a little while. I'll be home soon." She shouted to her son who was shovelling Fruit Loops into his mouth as fast as he had done during dinner on the previous night.

Ignoring the stunt that Regina had just pulled, Emma grabbed her keys off the sideboard, unhooked her leather jacket from the coat stand and ran out the door, allowing Regina to trail behind her.

"You left the Sheriff's cruiser outside of my house all night?" Regina asked, trying to keep her voice down, in hope that no one noticed that the car had been parked there all afternoon and night.

"Well yeah. My bug is in the garage, would you have preferred that I left that outside, instead?" Emma mocked and unlocked the car before dropping herself inside.

Ignoring Emma's petty comment, Regina got into the passenger side of the cruiser and stared out of the window, thinking about the voice she had heard in her head whilst getting dressed. _**'I am completely in love with Regina Mills.' **_The words rang throughout her mind. She hadn't realised, until hearing Emma's voice again, that it was the blonde's voice that ran through her mind and repeating the eight little words, almost chanting them like a lullaby. If she could hear one of Emma's thoughts, could Emma hear one of her own? Regina cast away the thought as fast as it came to her mind, pretending as though she didn't care.

From the moment that Emma promised Regina that she would save Henry from the mine, Regina held a special place in her heart for the woman, and without her realising, that small place in such a cold heart, grew larger than she had ever expected.

Stopping the car abruptly and beeping the horn of the cruiser, Emma waved at her father who smiled and walked towards the car.

"Any ideas where you think we should go?" Emma asked as David sat in the backseat.

"I think we should try the town line, then speak to Blue at the nunnery. Maybe she'll have an insight to what happened." He suggested, feeling uncomfortable under Regina's glare.

"We are not getting fairies involved in this. They meddle in everything. Besides, they always get things wrong or make them worse than they already were." Regina grumbled, hoping Emma would agree with her. "This was dark magic and we'll deal with this ourselves."

"Good morning to you too, Regina." David muttered with an over friendly and sarcastic tone. "The three of us can't solve whatever's happened, Regina, and you should know that all too well.

"Regina's right. Maybe we should speak to Gold." Emma agreed, ignoring the grudge between her passengers. "No doubt he's had something to do with this, as always."

The three sat in silence until they arrived at the town line and noticed something odd. No, not something, _someone_.

Regina's breath became trapped as a lump began to grow in her throat. Tears filled her eyes and doubt filled her mind. "Daddy..." She whispered as she gripped onto the door handle and instructed Emma to stop the car.

Emma looked at the emotive struck woman sat by her side in utter confusion at what was going on until Regina threw the passenger side door open.

"What the hell is going on?" Emma shouted as she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car after Regina. "Regina who is that?"

"My father." She smiled with her back towards Emma, not daring to take her eyes away from the small, plump man, who was miraculously standing in front of the town line looking exactly the same as he did on the day of his death. Unable to control herself, Regina threw her body hurtling towards her father and fell straight though him.

The strength of the impact hit Regina harder than she expected as she slid across the floor, scraping her knees and arms on the gravel road. When her body came to a complete halt, she looked over to her father, who was still standing where he had been before she fell through him. Regina let out a quiet sob, then glancing up, she watched her father slowly turn and walk towards her limp and hurting body.

Too afraid to move, Regina barely held herself up as her father reached down to her face, cupping it in his hands and looking straight into her eyes.

"I love you, Regina." He started, causing Regina to cry even more. "I forgive you. I am so proud of you, my dear." Her father held her gaze with a smile for a moment longer before disappearing into thin air.

"Regina!" Emma shouted as she ran towards the crying woman on the floor. "It's okay, I've got you." She whispered as she cradled Regina in her arms.

Feeling too weak to fight, she accepted Emma's hug and effort to comfort her. Regina held onto the woman as tight as she could to pull her closer until her breathing steadied once again. Emma loosened her grip and lifted Regina's chin to force her to look into her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked in the calmest tone she could conjure and caught one of Regina's falling tears with the thumb that rested on her cheek.

"I... I think so." Regina stuttered, still feeling confused about the appearance of her long dead father. "That was my father... I... I killed him. It was for his heart... before I cast the curse." Regina's sobs returned as Emma held her head. She had no idea why she was admitting all of it to Emma, but it just felt right. It felt as though Emma actually cared. And with the tightness of her grip and sympathy in her eyes, there was no doubt that she did.

"Come on. We're going to sort this out." Emma said as she stood and helped Regina to her feet before helping her back to the cruiser. Emma knew exactly who she wanted to see. It was the same little imp that she believed caused all of this.

Due to the locks on the doors of the backseats of the car, David could do nothing but watch as Regina threw herself through the image of her father and onto the floor. On the return of his daughter and the injured mayor, he knew that it would be best for him to remain in silence in the back of the car until they had arrived at their next destination.

Emma sped down Main Street with the lights and sirens of the cruiser on full throttle, causing the entire street to empty within seconds of hearing it. Regina had forced herself to stop her tears and attempted to compose herself as fast as she could, hoping that neither Emma nor David would see her in a weak state. Her legs and arms were still bleeding until she hovered her hand over the cuts, sending magic through the wounds to heal them instantly.

Stopping the car with a jolt, Emma threw herself out and pulled open the back door for David to get out. Noticing where they had stopped, Regina's face turned to stone and stormed out of the car almost identical to the way Emma had. As always, Mr Gold's Pawn Shop was completely empty apart from Mr Gold himself and his young girlfriend.

"Oh, a family outing. Have you come with open invites for the two of us to join you?" Mr Gold said in a cocky tone as the three of them burst through the front door, making Emma crunch her fists into a ball. "But I do hope you're not going to break my little bell."

"Shut up, Gold." Regina snapped before anyone else could interfere. "What did you do to cause that earthquake and why the hell did you do it?" Regina's emotions were overwhelming her, making her almost feel as though she were drowning.

"I was hoping you would be able to answer the exact question for me, your majesty." He leaned on his cane with Belle's eyes on him at all times, looking just as confused as David remained standing behind Emma and Regina.

"Obviously I wouldn't be here if I knew the answer, Rumple." She snapped in return, resisting the urge to pelt a fireball at his cocky, smug smile.

"Ah, you've seen something. Something that's appeared here because of the earthquake. If you would be so kind as to indulge me in whatever it was that you saw during your little investigation." Mr Gold said, sounding a lot politer than he had previously, after realising that this was something real.

Regina's face turned to ice at his question. It was something she knew that she couldn't answer without punching him squared in the face. _**'Please, Emma, help me.'**_ She thought to herself over and over, hating herself even more for needing the help of the Saviour once more.

Emma's head twitched at the sound of Regina's voice. It was the same as what happened this morning - Regina's voice was inside her head. But this time she knew why it was there. Regina was begging her to help answer Gold's question. _**'Please, Emma, help me.'**_ The voice continued.

"As we drove up to the town line we saw a man standing in the middle of the road. I had never seen him before, but David and Regina clearly had." Emma began to stall at the look of pleasure on Gold's face after spotting the terror in Regina's eyes. "It was Regina's father. Regina tried to run towards him but she fell straight through his body, he hadn't flinched until she lay flat in the floor. That's when he walked towards her, told her he loved her and then said something else before evaporating into thin air. Now do you have any ideas of what the hell happened?"

Gold held Emma's ferocious stare until he smirked and slowly walked towards the trio in the middle of his shop.

"Well, that sounds like someone broke my curse. Someone broke my curse with a kiss. True love's kiss in fact. But Charming, this time it wasn't you. This time it was the first kiss of true loves." Emma gave an impatient look at Gold, attempting to hide the ever growing nerves in her stomach. "The curse, however, was cast to make sure that once a loved one had died, there would be no way of bringing them back. I cast if after Dr Whale so kindly decided that an attempt to bring back Daniel was a good decision. Until I can redesign the curse, the entire town will be bumping into lost loved ones on a regular basis." his smug smirk grew even more at the sight of horror on the faces of the Charmings and the mayor.

"Someone tell Archie, otherwise he's going to have a breakdown with the number of patients he's going to have to deal with this week." David muttered as he rubbed his temples in order to calm himself, remembering the day he tried to fight off Daniel and leaving him in Regina's hands.

"Gold, how long would it take for you to remake the curse?" Emma's impatience was slowly getting the better of her. She wanted to know as much as she could before she had to broadcast the news to the entire town.

"It will take at least a week, but as always dearie, all magic comes with a price!" He waved his arms in his signature move that made Emma want to punch him.

"You know what? Do it for your grandson, since you had intended to kill him in Neverland." Emma's stubbornness was something she held dearly and she was not backing down now. If Neal could convince him to do the same, so could she.

"Go on Rumple. You know that Emma is right. I know that there are people who could come back that you don't want to see again. Please." Belle begged, knowing that he was likely to refuse Emma's offer.

Gold closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh before looking up to the terrified trio in front of him. "Fine. I'll do it for Henry." He started to turn around but then stopped himself and stared straight at Emma and Regina. "When the two of you have grown up a little, maybe you can come and admit what you've done. You're not going to be able to hide it forever."

Gold shot the two a sarcastic smile before offering his arm to Belle and waltzing out of the store front and into the back room.

"What did mean with the whole 'admitting what you two had done' situation?" David was concerned and instantly knew that Gold had hit a nerve in both Emma and Regina.

"Nothing." Regina sighed as she walked straight to the door with her confident stride once again.

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**Thank you all for reading! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as you enjoyed the last. Reviews are much appreciated as always and chapter 3 will be up soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

_After returning from Neverland, Emma and Regina's relationship had never been better. Not only were they talking, but also they were both spending time together with Henry — like a proper family. But will the return of unexpected things get in the way or even spark a possible romance? A Swan Queen AU fic._

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**A/N: Hello readers! This is just another quick thank you to all of you who have read/fave'd/followed/reviewed this story so far because it means so much to me to know that you're all enjoying this ****fic. So, thank you again, and I hope you all enjoy this next chapter!**

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**CHAPTER THREE**

_"I saw the two of you kiss." He was still grinning as he dodged a light jab from Emma. "Are you two dating?"_

_"Oh my god, no." Emma erupted into an uncontrollable laugh. "No, Henry. Your mom and I are not dating."_

_"But you like her though, don't you. I know you do!" Henry's excitement almost stopped him from remaining in a whisper, except for the moment he leaned into Emma to whisper into her ear. "Because I know that she likes you too."_

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As Emma, Regina and David left Mr Gold's shop, none of them actually had a valid answer to why such a curse was broken and who broke the damn thing.

"Maybe we should go back to our apartment and go over possibilities and a plan. I'm sure Mary Margaret will have a few ideas." David suggested as they all got back into the cruiser.

Regina rolled her eyes in disgust. "Take me home, Sheriff. As I told you earlier this morning, I am not needed in this situation. You and your deputy can do whatever you have to do to deal with this."

"Sorry, Madam Mayor, but we need you on this one." Emma said as she started up the cruiser once again.

Regina furrowed her brows with the knowledge that she would have to witness Snow and Charming pretending to be a big happy family with their unobliging thirty year old daughter. After spending so much time with the Charmings in Neverland, the last thing she wanted to do would be to spend even more time with them. At least Emma's awkwardness would be something to amuse her through the painful experience.

Like Regina, Emma was also dreading their little meeting at her mother's very quaint apartment. She knew that if something were to happen in that room, at least one person would end up being injured or seriously offended. However, in the pit of Emma's stomach grew a deep desire to tell Mary Margaret about the occurrence between herself and Regina at the time of the earthquake. But clearly neither occurrence was connected. _Was it?_

As they pulled up outside of Mary Margaret's apartment, Emma could do nothing but worry about what was about to happen. She was conflicted between telling her mother about the kiss or keeping it quiet until they knew more about how the curse broke. All she really knew, was that she needed to tell someone. _**'I despise your mother, Miss Swan,'**_ came Regina's voice echoing through her head. Noticing the seriousness of her tone, Emma rolled her eyes and shot a disapproving look at the woman sat in the passenger seat. _**'Can you hear me?'**_ Regina's voice echoed through her thoughts once again making Emma look at the woman with a worried expression and a slight nod of her head.

"Are you going to let me out or are the two of you going to continue your staring competition?" Charming interrupted, slowly becoming impatient at the silence and weird looks shared between his daughter and his wife's former step-mother.

Breaking their stare, Regina rolled her eyes and opened the door on her side. Following orders from her father, Emma got out of the cruiser and opened one of the backseat doors to let her father out of the vehicle. _**'Your father is an idiot.'**_ Regina reminded the now telepathically connected sheriff. _**'Stop it, Regina. I don't need this now.'**_ Emma knit her brow and followed her father into the apartment with Regina trailing behind.

Upon their entrance of Mary Margaret's apartment, they found the pixie-cut brunette pacing the room with a worried look on her face and her arms folded across her chest. She hadn't been able to remain still since the new curse broke and spent the majority of her time pacing the room, glancing out of the window onto the town and flicking through a few books that she had bought from Gold when the first curse was broken. Without her noticing, Emma, Regina and David were standing in the doorway, simply watching the confusion and terror conflicting across her face. Drawing her out of her thoughts, David cleared his throat, making his wife jump with fear and accidentally let out a quiet squeal, which amused Regina a lot more than it should have.

"David!" She gasped and clutched her chest, hoping that her racing heart would soon beat at a slower and regular pace. "I wasn't expecting you back just yet. Did you learn anythi-" Spotting Regina in the doorway to her apartment, Mary Margaret didn't know whether to say anymore, after all, she was still trying to find a good reason for her to start trusting Regina once more. "Hello, Emma dear. Regina."

**_'Did I tell you how much I hated her?'_** Regina hissed into Emma's mind.

"Hey," Emma smiled at her mother, ignoring the telepathic comment that Regina had just shared with her. She crossed the room and gave Mary Margaret a tight hug, which was something that Emma could tell her mother needed. Since returning from Neverland, her nerves were not what they used to be and it made her incredibly anxious and nervous all the time.

"You didn't come home last night, was everything okay? I was worried sick." Mary Margaret said as she pulled away from Emma's generous hug and cupping her daughter's face in her hands. "Your father thought that you were called into the station during your dinner with Henry and Regina..."

"I'm fine, honestly." Emma reassured her in the best way possible, "I'll talk to you about it later, okay?"

**_'Don't even think about telling her about that stupid move you pulled this morning, Miss Swan.'_**

**_'I am so tempted to tell her just because of how scared you are, Regina. Time for me to have my own fun, I think.' _**Emma knew that her new ability to talk to Regina telepathically was a tool that she could use to her advantage, even if Regina could use it against her too. Regina rolled her eyes and shot Emma a 'bring-it-on' glare which was completely over looked by both David and Mary Margaret.

"So, what happened?" Mary Margaret said, breaking the silence and walking into her kitchenette to prepare some hot chocolate for the four of them.

Regina closed her eyes tight in the hope that she wouldn't have to hear the story about her late father's recent reappearance in front of the town line. In attempt to hide it, she wandered towards the breakfast bar and took a seat next to Emma who could tell that she wasn't ready to here the original version of the story once again.

"People who passed away in your world are coming back to life in an almost 'ghost' form." Emma informed, attempting to be as careful as she possibly could. "Gold cast the curse a while back to prevent anyone from attempting to resurrect loved ones."

_**'Thank you.' **_Regina allowed a little smile to appear on her lips and let it last long enough for Emma to see it, but made it discrete enough for no-one else to notice. Regina was surprised at how much Emma actually cared about her and she couldn't help but find herself feeling the same way about the blonde. She had always given the slightest thought for Emma, but this was different, she was actually beginning to care about Emma and the way she was feeling. Was it their telepathic connection that made them feel this way, or was it that after sharing a kiss it helped to sprout underlying feelings between the two? Either way, Regina now knew that she felt something for Emma Swan and it wasn't something that was going to be overlooked.

"I'm gonna go call Archie to let him know what's happened. The most we can do is to be prepared for the worst." David kissed the top of his wife's head before he excused himself from gathering in the kitchen.

"Who did you see, Regina?" Mary Margaret asked as soon as David was out of earshot. She didn't want to be abrasive, she just hoped that Regina hadn't seen her father, King Leopold.

"Does it really matter who I saw, Snow?" Regina snapped.

**_'Just tell her, she won't press you on the matter, Regina. Trust me.' _**Emma's voice whispered through her mind again and left a calming aura throughout her body.

"I saw my father standing in front of the town line." Her tone was completely deadpan as she watched the brunette play with a bag of mini marshmallows that she intended to sprinkle on top of the hot chocolate before adding cream and cinnamon.

With a sympathetic smile and a nod, Mary Margaret continued to make four mugs of hot chocolate in silence. _**'I told you.'**_ Emma's voice was somewhat reassuring to Regina, knowing that only she could hear what Emma wanted to say out loud made it even more comforting. This entire morning felt like an emotional roller coaster for Regina, and it was something she hadn't experienced in such a long time. It was also something she never really expected to experience again after Daniel's death. From that day onwards she had felt completely dead to emotions, except for when she was around Henry and now surprisingly, Emma.

"Here you go," Mary Margaret said with a smile as she handed over two mugs of hot chocolate to Emma and Regina, "you were the one to introduce me to cinnamon on the top of my cocoa, Regina. It's become a personal habit. And clearly an inheritance for some people." She laughed at her daughter who had picked up her mug and cradled it against her mouth, savouring every mouthful.

**_'You are a child, Miss Swan. I'm sure our son has more manners than you do.'_ **Although Regina was being judgemental, Emma felt her amused tone and tilted the mug further so the cream on top would touch the tip of her nose before putting the mug back on the counter and raising her eyebrows at Regina. **_'My point exactly.' _**Regina rolled her eyes and let the corners of her mouth curl into a smile that was directed at the immature blonde.

"Okay, only one person has run to Archie's office so far and it was Ruby." David announced as he rejoined the women and accepted his own mug of hot chocolate from his wife.

"Is she okay? Who did she see?" Emma's eyes widened as she rubbed the cream off her face, ready to run to her friend.

"She's fine, Emma." Her father's words were in no way comforting. She wanted to run to Ruby in the same way she ran to Regina. "She saw Peter, he was the man she fell in love with back in the Enchanted Forest, but she also killed him." David had no real understanding of Ruby's story, only from what his wife had told him, and now he had to tell his daughter who was almost best friends with the woman. "She thought he was the wolf and tied him to a tree, only for her to suddenly change during wolf's time..." His voice trailed off, hoping that Emma wouldn't want him to complete the story.

"Did he speak to her?" Mary Margaret asked, still confused about the whole situation.

"Yeah." David sighed and dragged his fingers through his hair in frustration. "He said he forgave her and that he still loved her before he disappeared again."

Trying to picture the scene, the four of them remained silent long enough for them all to finish their hot chocolates and think about who else could return. Fortunately for Emma, she knew of no-one during her short time in the Enchanted Forest that could possibly come back to pay her a little visit. However, she spent her time thinking about all of the people her parents lost during their lives there. She even thought about the other people that Regina lost. She knew that it wasn't just her father and Daniel - two deaths couldn't cause that must pain and destruction in someone's life.

"So," Emma started, wanting to end the constant silence and tense atmosphere throughout the apartment and wanting to draw herself away from her deep thoughts. "What are we going to do about this mess?"

Regina groaned and dragged her fingers through her hair as she waited for Charming to butt in and announce his perfect plans that would save everyone. Instead, he looked at his wife then at his daughter, expressing that he had no idea what to do in such a predicament. He had always been used to running a kingdom, not saving a town where everyone knew who everyone was. That was the hardest bit. He wasn't saving his 'subjects', this time he would be deciding on how to save his family and friends from getting hurt more than they already had been.

"We can't ignore them." Regina admitted, knowing that no one else was going to suggest anything and bit back a lump in her throat. "When I saw my father, he didn't react until I ran towards him and fell. He didn't move until I tried to talk to him. If we ignore them, they're going to stay here and make all of this worse than it already is. Obviously Peter didn't move nor react until Miss Lucas wanted him to talk to her, so he would have stayed here too if she hadn't spoken to him."

"Regina is right. I mean, her father didn't even move until she was on the floor and practically begging him to talk to her." Glancing over at Regina, Emma spotted her crumbling walls. She had never seen this woman so vulnerable - she had been a strong, powerful and independent woman, now she appeared to be a broken woman that was struggling to deal with everything thrown at her. _**'I'm sorry.'**_ Emma told Regina before continuing her defence. "We need to get everyone to attempt to talk to their loved ones. It's going to hurt like a bitch, but it's only going to be for a week. Gold thinks he can rebuild a curse that will end all of this."

"Emma, it's not going to be as easy as that, dear." Mary Margaret sighed and placed her hand sympathetically on top of her daughters. "People aren't going to want to do i-"

"But that's not the point!" Emma shouted and pushed herself off the chair to pace in the same way her mother had been when they first arrived at the apartment. "They're going to have to. It's only going to hurt people more if they just ignore them because they're not going to go away. They'll stay here and lurk around until Gold deals with the mess he's made."

The apartment's tendency to fall silent flew into full swing when Emma stopped ranting long enough to notice that all the colour had drained from her mother's face. It was obvious to Emma that Mary Margaret had seen someone, Emma was just too afraid to turn and get a glimpse of who it was. She kept her eyes firmly on Mary Margaret who had started to cry and simply fell into David's embrace but refused to take her eyes off of the person standing behind Emma.

A quiet whimper made Emma's eyes avert from her mother and towards Regina, who was unable to control the guilty tears streaming down her face. In a matter of twelve hours, Emma had visibly watched Regina's wall fall and crumble into a million tiny pieces. In the two years that she had known the woman, never did Emma expect to see this side of her.

_**'Who is it?' **_Emma mentally questioned the sobbing mayor.

**_'King Leopold.' _**The name sent shivers down Regina's spine as she thought about what happened. When she had instructed the genie to kill her husband, she was still being blinded by her mother's guidance to gain power before it had totally consumed her.

Emma nodded her head and turned around to face her grandfather who was standing in front of the door to Mary Margaret's apartment. He stood completely still and stared directly at his daughter.

"Mom..." Emma muttered, holding her hand out to Mary Margaret, who obliged and walked across the room to take her daughter's hand. "Just say something." She gave her mother's soft hand a tight squeeze and waited.

"Hello father." Mary Margaret whimpered, praying that it would soon be over and he would be gone. She held Emma's hand as tight as she possibly could in hope that she wouldnt leave her side. After her father's death she had never expected to see him again, but accepting that he was standing in front of her was even harder than accepting his death.

"Snow, my dear, I am so proud of you." King Leopold said after a long wait and several sobs from Mary Margaret. He smiled and placed a kiss on the top Mary Margaret's head and slowly started to walk towards Regina. "Regina, I forgive you. Take care of my family." He smiled at the crying woman and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Mary Margaret's sobs escalated as soon as her father disappeared and without thinking, Emma pulled her mother into her chest and held her close. This was the first proper hug that they had shared and to Emma it felt completely natural and honest. When Mary Margaret's breathing became regular and calmer, Emma loosened her grip around her mother and looked up to find Regina had left her seat in the kitchen.

_**'Are you okay? Where are you, Regina?' **_

_**'I'm fine, just leave me alone, Miss Swan.'**_

_**'Regina you can't push me away like you have done with everyone else. We're connected now, so you can't escape it. Where are you?' **_Emma pleaded, knowing how hurt Regina was just by seeing her break down in front of the former King.

**_'Your mother's bathroom.'_**

Letting go of her mother completely, Emma looked towards her father to ask him to comfort his wife who understood completely and guided Mary Margaret towards one of the couches before wrapping her in his arms in complete silence. Sympathetically smiling at the scene, Emma left the two of them in peace to join Regina in the bathroom.

Emma gave the bathroom door a light tap, hoping that she wouldn't startle the broken woman behind the door. She didn't wait long enough for Regina to answer and pushed the door open slightly and slide inside, quickly shutting the door behind herself. Regina was sat on the side of the bath tub with her head in her hands.

"Regina..." Emma sighed and sat herself next to Regina and slowly draped her arm over her back. "It's going to be okay. We'll get through this, I promise."

"How can you say that?" Regina bellowed and stopped herself to change the volume of her voice. "You haven't watched people die, you haven't killed people and you don't know who could come back. I killed my father and Snow's father, what if everyone that I have killed comes back? It's going to kill me."

She dropped her head once again and let the tears stream down her face. How could she do this? How could she let the Saviour see her so broken? Letting herself fall apart so easily was something she was never used to, nor did she ever want to get used to it. Emma sighed and closed her eyes before taking a big leap by pulling Regina closer to her body and placed her chin on the top of the brunette's head. To Emma's surprise, Regina allowed herself to be hugged and rested her head on Emma's chest as she wrapped her own arms around the blonde's waist.

"It's not going to kill you," Emma whispered, "because I'm going to be right here for you. I promise."

Regina lifted her head enough to look directly into Emma's eyes. "Miss Swan, I-"

"Emma. Call me Emma." She interrupted with a slight smile, felling impatient that Regina still couldn't use her first name.

"E... Emma," Regina stuttered, "thank you, but I don't think I can do this. And I can't let you be dragged down by all of this."

"Yes, you can do this. You've built up walls higher than anyone I've ever met, you've raised our son to be just as strong as you are, everything that you have done, you've done it because that's what you think is right, not because you think it's going hurt the most people. And you've done it all on you're own. Let someone help you fight this time." Regina dropped her head at Emma's words, but Emma refused to let her brown eyes wander and lifted the brunette's chin with her index finger. "If you weren't strong enough, do you really think you would still be here? If you weren't strong enough, do you think that there would have been a curse? Regina, these people aren't going to hurt you and if any of them even try, I'm going to be the one by your side protecting you."

Regina smiled as a small tear ran down her face. No one had ever promised to protect her, no one had ever told her how strong she was and no one had ever held her in the way that Emma had. The longer she stared into the blonde's eyes, the more she thought that she was falling for her.

"I'm going to be here for you." Emma smiled and moved a piece of hair away from Regina's eye by tucking it behind her ear. "I will always be here for you, Regina."

The honesty in both Emma's tone and expression was enough to convince Regina. The only time she had ever been this easily persuaded was when Henry begged and pouted for something. Except this was something different; this time she felt her walls lowering enough for Emma to climb over, but still tall enough to stop anyone else from trying to join them. She let a small smile creep onto her lips, but it still didn't hide the fact that her head was telling her that this entire situation was wrong.

As she stared into the blonde's eyes, she couldn't stop herself from letting her eyes wander towards Emma's lips. Fuelling her fire of fear, her heart won over by telling her how much she really wanted to feel the blonde's lips pressed against her own once again. The feeling demanded that there should be no distance between them. Giving into her temptations, she took a handful of Emma's shirt in her fist and pulled her into a deep kiss.

From the moment the blonde's lips pressed against her own, Regina began to feel whole again. She began to feel the way she had when Daniel was alive. Holding Emma in her arms and having Emma's arms incasing her body made Regina feel secure; like she never wanted to let go. It was as if she was allowing herself to become lost inside the blonde's mouth.

A knock on the door made Emma pull away in fear of Regina's wrath. Instead of anger filling the woman's eyes, Emma saw the look of disappointment filling her blood-shot eyes to which Emma flashed a small smile before heading towards the bathroom door.

"Hey, your mom thinks that we should hold a town meeting at Granny's as soon as possible," David proposed as Emma opened the bathroom door. "I don't think we can handle the entire town going insane at a time like this. They need to be warned."

"Sure," Emma agreed, checking on Regina over her shoulder who was attempting to clean up the mascara that had run down her cheeks. "I need you do call everyone for me. Tell them we're going to hold the meeting in an hour and it's a town emergency. I'm going to make sure Regina's okay first. How's mom?"

"No problem," David smiled. "She's okay, it was just a little bit of a shock. Oh, and I called Henry, he's on his way over here."

Emma nodded and watched David walk away before closing the door to rejoin Regina, who had cleaned up her face and was standing boldly in the middle of the room in the way she had many times before their adventure to Neverland. Her face was completely expressionless as she watched Emma step towards her. A feeling in the pit of Emma's stomach overwhelmed her. It was the fear of rejection - a feeling that Emma had known far too well in her life to welcome it this time.

"This morning when you were getting dressed, Henry decided to tell me that he saw us kiss." Emma muttered as she played with her hands in front of her. "He also told me that you like me." She smiled and playfully poked Regina like a child.

She rolled her eyes and ignored the petty poke but smiled at the floor before catching Emma's gaze. "I hope you haven't scarred him for life, Miss Swan."

"Oh, so you're not going to admit that you like me, huh?" Emma quizzed and continued to advance towards Regina. "You can say it, you know. I already know you like me, I just want to hear you say it."

"You are the single most stubborn person I have ever met, Sheriff Swan." She let out a huge sigh and attempted to reach for the door handle before Emma stopped her.

"I know." Emma laughed, "But you're not leaving here until you say it, Madam Mayor."

**_'Fine, I... I like you.'_** Regina's voice rumbled through Emma's mind, making her blush at the words.

"I'm not buying it." She lied, feeling the butterflies in her stomach. "Say it out loud."

Regina rolled her eyes at the blonde and took a step forward, leaving a tiny gap between them. "I hate you." She gave a smug laugh before leaning forward to whisper into Emma's ear. "I kind of like you."

"Thank you." Emma grinned and spun on her heel to walk towards the door.

As Emma swung her arms in a strut, Regina caught her wrist, spun her around and almost pinned her to the bathroom door. _**'Just don't leave me, Swan.'**_

Emma smiled and gave Regina a light peck on her lips after a quick wink._** 'Trust me, I wouldn't dare.'**_

As the two left the bathroom awkwardly as they attempted to hide their blushing cheeks. Immediately, they found Henry sitting at the breakfast bar with a mug of hot chocolate and laughing with a red-eyed Mary Margaret. Whereas David was pacing the living area with a cell phone pressed to the side of his ear and occasionally cursing under his breath.

"Hey, kid!" Emma said as she took a seat beside Henry and tussled his hair. She looked up towards her mother who's smile had sunk as she spotted Regina renter the room. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine." Mary Margaret gave an unconvincing smile that told Emma not to mention it.

Obeying her mother's wishes, she nodded towards her father who was still conversing on the phone across the room. "Is everything okay with him?"

"Yeah, everyone is demanding an explanation before the meeting." She sighed and leaned on the counter in front of her daughter. "Apparently a 'town emergency' isn't a good enough reason for a compulsory meeting."

"I've got this." Regina rolled her eyes and stormed towards David. She ripped the cellphone out of his hands and took note of the person on the other end of the line. "Hello, Jefferson, it's Mayor Mills. We're holding a meeting at Granny's Diner at 1pm this afternoon. Attendance is mandatory... No, Jefferson, I'm not telling you what the meeting is about over the phone... because that's what the meeting is for... I'll see you there, goodbye." She hung up the phone and threw it to David who was standing behind her in complete shock. "That's how you do it, Charming."

Regina grinned and returned to the breakfast bar to place a kiss on the top of Henry's head, who was eager to know what his mothers and grandparents had been racking their brains about. "So, what did the earthquake cause?"

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**Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review! ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

_After returning from Neverland, Emma and Regina's relationship had never been better. Not only were they talking, but they were also both spending time together with Henry - like a proper family. But will the return of unexpected things get in the way or even fire up a possible romance? A Swan Queen AU fic._

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**A/N: Hello wonderful readers! As always, I just want to take this time to thank you all for your support and wonderful reviews because without them I really wouldn't be so excited to publish and write these chapters. I've tried to reply to as many reviews as I can, but if i've missed you, I do apologise, but thank you! I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as you've been enjoying the rest. Don't forget to review! (:**

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**CHAPTER FOUR**

_Earlier that morning;_

_Granny instructed Ruby to drive across town to pick up a few things from the grocery store before she turned up for work that morning. She hated the idea of having to work on a Saturday, but after having her date being cancelled she knew that she had nothing better to do with her entire day. Maybe it would take her mind away from thinking about the jackass that stood her up. _

_Her journey to the store was a lot shorter than she had anticipated. She had arrived within five minutes of setting off and had shopped in almost under three minutes, so she decided to dawdle for a little while to give herself some alone time before returning to spend almost twelve hours running around the little diner and seeing the same faces all day. _

_As she sat in her car outside of the store with her music playing quietly, Ruby had some time to think about the direction in which her life was going. She had no boyfriend, barely any friends, her job was only secure because her grandmother was her boss, she had no qualifications and no money. The thought of how bad her life had got made Ruby want to break-down out of frustration. That was until she saw him standing there._

_Peter._

_He stood directly in front of her car and stared at her. Not blinking, not moving and not even acknowledging what was going on around him. _

_"You can't be here." Ruby whispered to herself, hoping that Peter would hear and run towards her._

_He continued to stare at her as she stepped out of her car and walked towards him. He was dressed the same way that he had been on the night she killed him. Accept this time, there was no blood. He was completely clean of any injuries. He looked alive and completely perfect. _

_"How are you here?" She asked as she got closer to the only man she ever truly loved. She raised her hand to place it on his cheek, only for it to fall through his body as if he were a ghost. Ruby whimpered and gave in to the tears that were building in her eyes. "I am so sorry, Peter. I still love you."_

_The long pause of silence killed Ruby. She wanted nothing more than to fall onto the floor and cry, but that was when the touched her. Peter had reached his hand out and placed it on Ruby's cheek, the same way she had tried with him, accept __this time, she could feel him. She could feel the warmth in his touch and quivered under his hand._

_"I love and forgive you, Red." He smiled at the sobbing brunette and stroked her face with his thumb. "But there is someone else out there that will trust you as much as I did. Find them." _

_Within moments of ending what he was saying, Peter disappeared into nothing. The weight and warmth from his hand faded fast and eventually felt like a slap to the side of Ruby's cheek. _

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Granny's diner was always busy, but with today's urgent town meeting, there was practically no room between any of the towns folk. With everyone so tightly packed together like sardines in a can, there was no question in whether or not the diner would be filled with agitated and rowdy people by the time the sheriff arrived. From the moment the seven dwarves trailed in together with the town's rather large nunnery, Granny instantly began regretting her decision to allow Charming to have use of her rather small diner for an hour.

"The sheriff will be here soon people, would you please calm down?!" Granny shouted as her patrons began to protest about their wait and discomfort. "I swear to god, Leroy, if you don't get down from that table I'm going to remove the beer tap."

Leroy had been standing on a table at the back of the diner and shouting prompts at the people below him, almost causing a riot in the little tiny diner. But at the sound of the possibility that Granny could remove the only thing that made him happy in this world, made him dive onto the floor and under the table. The terrified look on his face made Granny grin with joy.

Ruby, on the other hand, was sat upon the bar and staring into a distant world, completely oblivious to the raucous around her. She couldnt help but think of what she had seen earlier that morning, and Dr Hopper wasn't much help. All she wanted was for Emma to burst through the front door and explain what the hell was going on in the small Maine town of Storybrooke. The last thing she needed was false sympathy from Dr Whale, which was what she got.

"Hey, Ruby." He said as he pushed his way through the crowd. "How are you?" He placed his hand onto Ruby's exposed thigh, giving her a sympathetic look after giving her chest the same stare.

"Piss off, Whale." She rolled her eyes and brushed his hand off her thigh, feeling the sudden urge to hit him. "I don't need your false sympathy and so-called 'friendly advice'. And I really don't you you trying to get me into your bed, again."

The smug smile on his face fell and he knew that it was his call to leave her alone. To Whale, Ruby was easy to manipulate. He had never failed to woo her into both his arms and his bed, but this time, he knew that something was up with her, he just didn't know what. Before leaving her to her thoughts, he contemplated actually asking her what was going on, but decided against it when he spotted Leroy glaring at him from underneath the table.

It had taken Ruby such a long time to convince herself that Peter's death was not her fault, but on his return, her entire recovery crashed and burned in front of her eyes. She knew that she couldn't hide the fact that she was still madly in love with him, yet she couldn't re-grasp the concept that he was dead and he was never coming back, even if he did appear in front of her earlier in the morning.

Even whilst living for twenty-eight years as her cursed self, Ruby knew that her body and soul was looking for someone like Peter, even though she didn't know he existed. She merely prayed that Emma had the answer and possibly a way to bring him back for good, but not in the way that Daniel returned to Regina.

#***#

Back at Mary Margaret's apartment, Emma was attempting to explain to Henry what had happened at the town line and in the apartment before his arrival. His confusion only grew when she attempted to explain why she thought the previously departed were returning with little messages.

"But Emma, if they're still dead, how can they talk?" Henry would ask whenever Emma told him that these people had spoken to their loved ones, to which she would shrug her shoulders and shake her head.

Regina sat with Emma and Henry, constantly tuning in and out of their conversation and staring into a distant land. This entire morning had been too much for her to handle. In the short morning had she kissed Emma Swan three times, spoken to her long dead father, spoken to her long dead husband and broke down into tears in front of both Emma Swan and Snow White's Prince Charming. Twice. Her emotionally drowning sensations continued and became even worse every time she looked at Emma, yet she couldn't bring herself to look away from the blonde. Regina had never really looked at Emma in an appreciative way, until now. The blonde's golden curls framed her face and the way the light hit her cheeks really emphasised how beautiful she actually was. Even if she did have her mother's chin and her father's charming assets.

Watching Emma in complete awe, Regina hadn't realised how obvious her stare had been until she felt her jaw drop a little when Emma smiled at their son. She hated to admit it, but Regina was rather rapidly falling in love with the daughter of the woman who ruined her life.

"Okay, we're going to be late." David said as he threw on his coat and ushered everyone towards the front door. "Granny is going to kill us. Everyone into my truck." David unlocked the truck as soon as they were outside and forced Henry, Emma and Regina into the back of the truck while he and Mary Margaret sat along side each other in the front.

"I cannot believe you've made me do this, Miss Swan." Regina huffed as she felt Henry's elbow accidentally dig into her right side and felt Emma's entire side pushed against her own. "Henry, sweetie, you really need to move your elbow."

Henry chuckled with embarrassment and threw his arms out in front of him and squeezed them awkwardly in front of his chest. Regina gave him an appreciative smile in thanks before staring off into the distance of of the front window.

'**_What if everyone thinks I caused all of this?'_ **Regina looked over at Emma with a nervous demeanour.

_**'Then I'm going to stand up to them and tell everyone that you didn't. I said trust me, didn't I?'**_ Emma took Regina's hand in her own, giving it a light squeeze before letting go as fast as she could. Pissing Regina off would be the last thing she wanted to do in the damned truck.

To Emma's surprise, Regina followed her hand and took it in her own before wedging their intertwined fingers into the tiny gap between them to hide their affection from the rest of the passengers. Emma gave her a slight smile and held the dark headed woman's hand as tight as she could, never wanting to let go.

As they pulled up outside of Granny's diner, Regina's grip on Emma's hand became stronger, making Emma lose feeling in her fingers for a little while. Although the woman had a firey expression written all over her face, Emma couldn't deny that Regina was terrified.

_**'Don't be so scared, Regina. You've done nothing wrong.'**_ Emma attempted to reassure the woman holding her hand but to no avail.

_**'Miss Swan, I think we might have... I think we broke the curse.'**_

The look of utter shock struck Emma's face, leaving her completely speechless and staring at Regina. _**'What do you mean?'**_

_**'I don't know. Forget I said it, Miss Swan.'**_

Emma rolled her eyes and swung open the door next to her as soon as the truck came to a halt. Once she had leapt from the truck, she returned and held out her hand to Regina to help her down, which was surprisingly taken without hesitation. Her eyes flashed with a small glimmer of gratitude before they returned into an emotionless state, along with her facial expression.

Emma led the group into heaving diner, barging through the crowd with Regina on her heels holding Henry's hand and the Charmings struggling to keep up behind them. As soon as Emma made it to the bar where Ruby was sat, she let out a sigh of relief, thankful that no one had attempted to attack Regina yet.

"Hey Rubes," Emma gave a sympathetic smile and placed her hand on Ruby's knee. "How're you holding up?"

"I'm not." Ruby replied bluntly in hope that the less Emma spoke to her, the sooner she would understand why she saw and spoke to Peter that morning. Not knowing why she saw him was eating her live.

Emma sighed in understanding and pulled out a chair from one of the tables that had been submerged in the crowd and placed it in front of the bar before standing on it and letting out a loud wolf whistle. The noise in the diner dropped to complete silence in seconds, causing everyone to turn and face Emma in anticipation.

"Okay, so, um," Emma stuttered as she looked around the diner to see every single pair of eyes in the room solidly on her. "I just wanted to thank you all for coming here on such sort notice..."

"Get on with it, sister!" Leroy shouted, still sat underneath the table.

"Thanks for that, Leroy." Emma shot him a glare and gained a little confidence, knowing that people were actually here to listen to her.

"As you all know, Storybrooke experienced an earthquake this morning, but it wasn't an average earthquake. It was an earthquake that was caused by true love's kiss." Murmurs filled the diner and stares were directed towards David and Mary Margaret, who were looking at each other in disbelief. "It wasn't David and Mary Margaret, it was someone else. We don't know who, but that's not the problem. The problem is that when this kiss happened, it broke a curse. A curse that was cast by Mr. Gold. This curse was cast to prevent people from the attempting to resurrect their loved ones after an event that happened a little while ago."

**_'Get ready for it, sheriff.'_**

Emma shook off Regina's telepathic muttering and waited for a reaction. To her surprise, there was nothing. No one said a word. It was almost as if they were too afraid to stand up to Regina or even accuse her of something.

**_'I'm waiting, your majesty.'_**

"Now that the curse has been broken, there may be be a few side effects for at least a week. Some people have already witnessed these side effects. This is going to be an incredibly trying time for all of us, so we're going to need to work together through all of this." Emma attempted or reassure the crowd, but to her dismay, everyone merely stared at her in horror.

"What are the side effects, sheriff?" An elderly gentleman shouted from the back of the diner.

"Dead people." The deadpan tone of Emma's voice made her mother squeeze her eyes shut tight and rub her temples in circular motions in attempt to calm herself from her daughters idiotic choice of words. "Sorry. The people that died in the Enchanted Forest - your friends, families, loved ones - there is a possibility that they will return. To my knowledge so far, there has already been three returns. So I need all of you to think, have you seen someone today that you know to be dead?" Emma glanced around to diner to find no one willing to share anything. "Okay, good. So, Mayor Mills and myself have already seen two, to which we quickly learned that these reappearances _cannot_ be ignored. You have to talk to these people, or at least be willing to talk to them. Otherwise they're going to stand there and do nothing and that's only going to make it worse for yourselves. It may hurt to see a departed loved one, but you're going to have to. At the moment, we know that they're only say a few short sentences before disappearing again."

_**'Gold has just walked in. Don't tread on his toes, Miss Swan.'**_

Regina was right, Mr. Gold had entered the diner with Belle on his arm and a smug look on his face. It was a look that made Emma want to punch every time she saw it. No one else seemed to notice his entrance, but it was something that made Emma worry. Having a huge fight break out in the middle of the diner was the last thing she wanted to deal with today.

"Does anyone have any questions?" She hoped that no one would. She wanted everyone to accept the fact that they would see some familiar faces of dead relatives for the next week.

"I do, dearie." Mr. Gold projected before anyone else had the chance to even think about anything they wanted to ask. "Who are the love birds that just so happened to break my curse?"

"Sorry, Gold, but we don't know."

"Oh, I think you do." He grinned and raised an eyebrow at the blonde standing above everyone in the room. "I think you know exactly who broke the curse. I'm sure you've already told all of these... people that it wasn't your parents, have you not?"

"Well, yeah. That's because it wasn't, Gold." Emma muttered in a matter-of-fact tone. "Because only the first kiss between a couple of true love can break a curse, apart from a sleeping curse. Surely you know that one."

"Just take some time to think about what you just said, dearie, then come and find me." Gold said, looking between Emma and Regina with a large smile on his face. "I know for a fact that I will see you soon."

With a loud giggle, Mr. Gold spun on his heel and guided himself and Belle out of the diner, leaving an awkward presence among the entire towns folk who simply looked back at Emma with raised eyebrows.

**_'We need to talk, Regina.'_**

"So, does anyone have anymore questions?" The only thing Emma could do was distract the room from Gold's words. If they were confused, she knew they would immediately ask what in the hell he was talking about.

"When will this end?" Someone shouted.

"Mr. Gold says that he is going to rewrite the curse, but with a different twist so it won't break again. He thinks that it's going to take at least a week to get it completed. Anyone else?"

"What happened that caused Gold to cast the curse in the first place?" Another heckled.

"I don't have the right to discuss the matter, I'm afraid." Emma sighed and looked towards Regina, who was biting her lip and trying to remain as fierce as she had been before the question had been asked. "Does anyone have any more questions?" The diner remained silent, which pleased Emma to no end. "Okay, thanks for coming. Just remember that you can't ignore these people. If anyone has any trouble, please call either the station, myself, or my deputy and we'll help in any way we can. Dr. Hopper has extended his working hours just in case anyone needs any help through this. It's going to be tough, but like everything else, we can pull through."

Emma smiled at the crowd and watched them disperse a little before jumping off the chair and rejoining her family on the floor. Regina stood at her side, completely lost in thought. Seeing the blank facial expression on Regina's face made Emma's heart melt. She had been completely unaware of how much she was attracted to the Mayor until they retuned from Neverland. However, she did admit to herself that she had a little girl crush on the woman a long while before hand, but never really intended to act upon it.

"We really need to discuss your public speaking issues, dear." Mary Margaret said as soon as the five of them were alone.

Emma rolled her eyes at her mother like a disobedient child, making the corners of Regina's mouth curl. The sassiness that Emma had when it came to her mother was something Regina was beginning to love, even if she did hate to admit it.

**_'I thought you did well.'_**

"Hey, Regina, could I have a word with you out the back, please?" Emma asked, hoping that her parents would buy Henry a milkshake and distract him while the two of them talked in the diner's bathroom.

Regina nodded and gestured for Emma to lead. The blonde guided them to the bathroom and locked the door behind them.

"Are you thinking that _we _broke the curse, Regina?" Emma's whisper was barely understandable, but with the look of worry written all over her face it was obvious to Regina what she had asked, even if she had missed a couple of words.

"Unfortunately so, Miss Swan." Regina said, dropping her head a little, attempting to hide the growing attraction that she had for Emma Swan. "What do you propose we do?"

"I don't know." Emma shrugged. She could feel her cheeks blushing. She knew that there was no point in admitting to Regina that she had heard the woman confess to herself that she was falling in love with her.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this." Regina sighed and took a step away from Emma. "But I think I felt something between us. I have no idea what it was and I can't tell if it's right, but I felt someth-"

Regina's rambling was cut off by the forceful kiss that Emma had sprung upon her lips. Feeling her lips grinding against Emma's once again made Regina's knees feel weak. Steadying herself, she took a handful of Emma's tight shirt and pulled her towards her body, wrapping her arms tightly around the blonde's waist. Emma slid her tongue across Regina's bottom lip as if to request an entry, which was granted almost immediately. Their tongues swirled and fought inside their mouths, hands wandered and became tangled.

Neither wanted to let the other go, feeling too afraid to lose them. When Regina began to feel breathless, she ran her finger down Emma's jaw until she reached her chin and slowly pulled her own lips away from the blonde's. As she emerged from the kiss, Regina couldn't help but smile at Emma who was showing no signs of wanting to let go of her waist. And honestly, the connection between the two of them was something Regina never wanted to let go of.

"So, what are we going to do?" Emma asked as she regretfully began moving her hands away from Regina's waist and onto the brunette's hips.

"We are not going to Gold, if that's what your thinking." Regina pulled away from Emma's hold and ran her fingers through her hair in confusion. "Miss Swan, I don't think we can do this. It may feel right, but it is incredibly wrong."

The look of disappointment and abandonment hit Emma's face faster than the speed of light and it simply broke Regina's heart. She was falling for the idiotic blonde faster than she had fallen for anyone, and that scared her more than anything. Fighting away the nagging desires to cradle Emma in her arms, Regina folded them across her chest and wandered her eyes across the bathroom.

"So what do you suggest then, Madam Mayor?" Emma tried to hide how fast she had been hurt with such a deadpan question and leaned on one leg in impatience.

"We merely forget, I suppose." Regina shrugged and walked towards the bathroom door before stopping when Emma took hold of her wrist.

"Regina, wait," Emma sighed, "We can't just forget all of this."

"Watch me, Miss Swan."

Regina ripped her hand from Emma's grasp and stalked out of the bathroom faster than Emma could protest. As she returned to the front of the diner, she saw Henry sitting in a booth and laughing with his grandparents. Just as much as she hated to break them up, Regina felt the need to be as far away from Emma as she possibly could, and right now, that meant taking Henry with her.

"Henry, are you ready to go home?" She asked as she approached the table.

"Sure." Henry sighed and took one last slurp of the milkshake that his grandparents had bought for him. "Is Emma coming with us?"

"No, Henry." Regina said sternly, feeling the butterflies in her stomach at the sound of the blonde's name.

"Let me take you," Charming offered after looking at his wife for approval. "It looks as if it's about to rain and my truck is just outside. I insist."

"Thank you, David." Regina sighed in defeat, not willing to argue with him and left the diner and waited for her son to join her.

Inside the diner, Emma still hadn't left the bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror trying to battle her conflicting emotions. She was falling in love with Regina Mills a lot faster than she had been before Neverland, but she also felt betrayed as her hatred for the woman built as fast as her love. The thoughts and emotions running through her head made her dizzy and physically sick. This, she realised, was why she built her walls up.

"Hey, sweetie," Mary Margaret interrupted and closed the bathroom door behind herself. "Is everything okay?" She waited for Emma's reply, but to no avail. "When Regina left I expected you to come out too. Your father has taken her and Henry home."

Emma nodded and fought away her frustrated tears that were filling and burning her eyes.

"Oh, Emma, honey." Mary Maragret sighed and wrapped her arms around her daughter who broke down on contact and almost melted into their embrace. "What happened?"

With Mary Margaret's arms wrapped around her and her hand smoothing her hair, Emma felt at home. She felt loved. She felt wanted. It was the first time she had ever let herself break down in front of her mother, but in this position, she didn't want anyone else.

"I'm just so confused and conflicted and... Ugh." Emma forced through her tears and sobs. "I just don't know what to do, mom."

The sound of Emma calling her 'mom' made Mary Margaret's heart skip a beat or too. She would never get used to hearing her daughter saying the word and every time she said it, she knew that she meant it even more than the first. She pulled herself away from Emma's grasp and held the blonde in front of her to cup her daughters pale white cheeks.

"Emma, dear, you have to tell me what happened before I can help you." Mary Margaret smiled and wiped away one of Emma's tears with her thumb.

Emma nodded and closed her eyes to calm herself before opening her mouth. "I think I'm falling in love with Regina." She muttered quickly and got caught in her mother's icy glare. She knew she needed to explain, what she was trying to tell Mary Margaret, but no words were being formed in Emma's mouth. "Just don't look at me like that. It was completely unintentional."

"Emma..."

"No, let me just..." Emma cut her off, unsure why she wanted to spill her guts about someone she had fallen in love with. Especially to her mother when it was Regina who she had fallen for. "When I first met Regina I thought she was beautiful, I thought she would be one of those little 'girl crushes', you know? And during our first conversation, she may have been cold, but I knew that she understood me. Somewhere in that black heart of hers knew what I was trying to tell her. Even when she got me arrested and did all of those things, I knew it was because of the wall she's built. She was trying to protect herself because of the whole 'love is weakness' crap that Cora drilled into her as a kid. I only ever wanted to be the woman's friend. I wanted to get to know her and Henry. It was never my intention to fall head over heels for her!"

Emma hadn't realised how much she had raised her voice, nor how much more she was crying. She could feel Mary Margaret trying to catch each tear with her thumbs, but failed miserably and pulled Emma into another hug instead.

"I hadn't realised that I was properly in love with her until we were in Neverland. I even considered my love for her to be conditional. I thought I loved her because of Henry and the way she had raised him, but even when we're alone and talking about other things I feel completely smitten for her." Emma took another deep breath and waited until she felt right to continue. "I didn't come home last night because Regina and I fell asleep on her couch together. Nothing happened, but this morning she kissed me."

It took a little while for the words to sink in for Mary Margaret, but when they did she pushed Emma out of her eyes and stared at her in utter confusion. "She kissed you?!" She shouted, not caring whether or not anyone else in the diner could hear her. "Emma, _why_ did she kiss _you_?"

"I kind of asked her to." Emma had stopped crying now. Her fear built and regret filled her stomach. This was why she never wanted to tell anyone anything. "As soon as we pulled away, Henry ran in to tell us about the earthquake."

"Wait, what?" Mary Margaret's shout turned instantly into a whisper. "Emma, does she love you?"

"I _think_ so." Emma's uncertainty nerved her mother even more. "She's kissed me again since this morning and Henry told me that she _likes_ me. But if she loved me, she wouldn't have run away, would she?"

"I'm really going to hate myself for saying this, but I'm going to be completely honest with you." Mary Margaret stalled. She knew that she had to tell Emma, but it was something that she didn't want to hear coming from her own mouth, or anyone else's for that matter. "Emma, I think the two of you broke the curse. Your kiss, true loves kiss, it only happens between true loves...and...I think that you and Regina are true loves."

The tears started to build in her own eyes this time. At the thought of her daughter being the true love of the Evil Queen made her stomach knot and the nausea kick in.

"I'm sorry." Emma sighed and pulled her mother back into a hug. It was their only safety net from falling into complete breakdowns. "Mom, what do I do?"

"Go see her." She tried to hide the tears streaming down her face in Emma's blonde ringlets and calmed herself and her daughter by drawing circles on Emma's back with her finger. "Go see her, Emma. If she loves you and you love her, you will always find each other and end up running back into each others arms. I promise."

Emma smiled into her mother's neck and held on for a little longer, hoping that the tears would stop for both of them by the time she left for Regina's. "Thank you." Emma continued to smile. Her entire body felt warm, almost as if her mother's hug was like a protection shield from everything, even the cold. She felt safe for the first time in her life. "Mom, could you do me one thing?"

Mary Margaret nodded as they separated and wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks. "Of course."

"I need you to promise that this will say between the two of us." Emma almost began to beg as she watched her mother contemplated the request. "Just until I know what's going on."

Mary Margaret gave a wry smile and watched her daughter leave the bathroom in a hurry. It broke her heart to see her this way, and it hurt even more to know that Regina Mills was her daughter's true love. There was nothing she could do to stop it and there was no way she would go to see Mr. Gold to deal with this situation, especially after what he gave to her to '_forget_' Charming whilst in the Enchanted Forest. If she couldn't ply them apart herself, there would be nothing she could do. All she wanted was to see Emma living in happiness, but the hunch held over Mary Margaret fought to tell her that Regina could never give Emma such happiness. She prayed that Regina would break Emma's heart in two, so then Emma would have no choice but to find someone else.

* * *

**Thank you all for reading, I hope you all have a great week and I shall see you again on Friday! Reviews are much appreciated! **


	5. Chapter 5

_After returning from Neverland, Emma and Regina's relationship had never been better. Not only were they talking, but they were also both spending time together with Henry - like a proper family. But will the return of unexpected things get in the way or even fire up a possible romance? A Swan Queen AU fic._

* * *

**CHAPTER FIVE**

_"Go see her, Emma. If she loves you and you love her, you will always find each other and end up running back into each others arms. I promise."_

The car ride back to the manor was painful, to say the least. Regina had let Henry ride shot-gun with his grandfather whilst she sat alone in the backseat, constantly thinking about the infuriating blonde that she had left alone in the bathrooms at the diner. The more she tried to forget about her, the more she invaded her mind. Neither did it help that everything Henry and David did reminded her of Emma; the way Henry would suddenly become over excited over something simple, and the way David would laugh and give a charming and witty response. For Regina, it was seemingly impossible to switch off and forget her growing feelings for Emma Swan.

As much as she wanted to allow herself to fall in love with Emma, her head contradicted her heart once again by telling her it was wrong. Her heart knew that it was right, but her head told her that it would only cause trouble. Maybe she was falling in love with Emma because she was Henry's birth mother, or maybe she was falling for her because she was the only one to both stand up to her and defend her at the same time. But either way, that would be ridiculous.

Letting her mind wander in the backseat, Regina found herself thinking about the kisses she had shared with Emma that morning. The image of Emma's lips constantly flashed into her mind, and how soft they were as she let them grind against her own. She couldn't help but smile at the way her lips tingled when she thought about the blonde.

"Hey, mom," Henry said, dragging Regina directly from her thoughts with his concerned tone. As she looked up, she realised she was home. But something was different. "Who are those people in our yard?"

Regina squinted her eyes, trying to look into her yard to see exactly what her son saw. It was full of people dressed in the same armour she required her guards to wear in her palace whilst she reigned in the Enchanted Forest. Her stomach dropped, knowing that they were all there for her. The more she watched, the sooner she understood why they were there. They were the people she had killed after they had misconducted a deed under her wishes.

"David, I need you to take Henry home for a little while." Regina forced herself to say the words, but she knew that's the only place that Henry would be safe. "I have something to deal with."

David nodded as she swung herself out of the trunk and onto the sidewalk. She shut the door behind herself and waited for David to drive away before opening the gate to her filled yard. The lump in her throat felt like a golf ball had been lodged there for a while. She didn't have the strength to look at them as she ran towards her front door and threw herself inside.

She thought that if she ignored them they would stay there until Gold had come up with another curse. As much as she would hate being locked up in the house for an entire week, the last thing she would want to do would be to stand on her porch and listen to hundreds of people spit horrible comments towards her.

Standing with her back against the door, Regina couldn't help but let herself slide onto the floor. Her heart raced and her eyes filled with tears. Her head spun and the lump in her throat only grew. All of this had happened because of Emma Swan. If it hadn't been for the infuriating blonde, her walls would still be high, her emotions would be hidden and she most certainly wouldn't have hundreds of dead people standing in her front yard. The last thing she wanted was for Emma to turn up and pity her, but doing what her heart always did, it contradicted her. Her heart told her that the only thing she really wanted was for Emma to turn up and pity her.

"Love is weakness, Regina." She muttered to herself whilst trying to hold back a stream of tears. "You cannot be in love with the woman who decided that it would be okay to invade your home and your mouth within twelve hours." But as stupid as it sounded to her, Regina knew that she had always had underlying feelings for the blonde, she just never intended to act upon them in the way that she had. She had expected them to fade over time, not grow as much as they did.

Regina's mind was acting like a vicious circle; she would think about the crowd outside her house and hope for Emma to save her, then her mind would wander towards Emma and how much she was falling for her, then she would think about how fast her walls were crumbling because of Emma, then returning dead and finally her mind would return to the crowd outside. It was a circle she couldn't escape from and it was simply eating her alive. How could she fall so fast? How could she let Emma Swan, of all people, break her and her walls, which she prized so dearly.

The longer she sat on the floor, the more Regina knew that she had to get on with her life and attempt to ignore what was happening outside and in her heart. She pushed herself off the door, threw her blazer onto the coat stand and wandered aimlessly into the kitchen to find something to do - something to take her mind off it all.

As she arrived in the kitchen, Regina immediately regret her decision when she laid her eyes on the photograph on the kitchen table. The photo showed herself smiling whilst hugging Henry, who was also being hugged by his birth mother. Secretly, it was one of her favourite photos. She had never looked so happy, and for it to have been with the two people in this world that she loved the most made it even more special to her. Every time she looked at the photo it made her feel warm - like she was looking at her family. Her complete family that she fought hard to find, even if the relationship she wanted with Emma was never going to happen.

She moved the photo into the living room to avoid any distractions and returned to the kitchen to make herself a fresh pot of coffee. As the coffee brewed, she sat at the counter and found herself running her fingers through her hair in utter frustration with tears still streaming down her face. If this was love and heart break, it was most certainly something she didn't want to go through again.

With the sound of the coffee machine filling her ears, Regina's mind rested and became clear - that was until a loud knock on her front door made her jump.

"Do I ever get some time to myself?" She grumbled and crossed the kitchen before stopping herself. Not knowing what to expect when she opened her front door, she decided against it and stood in the hallway, waiting for something to happen.

"Regina it's me, Dr. Hopper." Said the voice behind the door. "Can I come in? I know you always keep your door unlocked."

Without waiting for an approval, Archie quickly opened the door and slid through the small gap before closing the door quickly behind him. Regina knit her brow and glared at the doctor standing before her.

"I was walking Pongo and I saw your yard, so I took him home and drove straight here." He muttered, playing with his hands and tried not to make eye contact with the powerful and damaged woman before him. "Do you need to talk."

"Do I look like a need to talk?" She snapped and placed her hands on her hips. Talking to this bug was definitely on her list of things she didn't want to do today.

"Actually, Regina, you're crying." He pointed out, trying not to sound too matter-of-factly. "So, yeah, I do think you look like you need to talk. Can we?"

Slowly raising her hand to her cheek, Regina felt the tears hitting her fingertips. The tears formed and fell like they were never going to stop. With the overwhelming day she had already had, she couldn't help but feel victimised in this situation; firstly she saw her father, then her late husband and now there was over a hundred of her guards that she had killed during her reign. With raging emotions for the blonde and the distressing feeling of fear that swept over her each time she thought about going outside or even answering her front door, Regina really wasn't surprised that her body had completely failed her in remaining strong and powerful.

She nodded towards the psychiatrist and signalled for him to follow her into the dining room and took a seat. Even though her tears had eased, the feeling of fear clashing with love was pulling Regina down and scaring her into comparing these feelings with her feelings before and after Daniel's death. They were no different; this time, however, the person she had fallen in love with was still alive.

"Okay, Regina, I want you to tell me everything that happened before the curse broke this morning." Archie said in a soothing tone as he sat a seat away from the brunette.

"Is this a doctor patient conversation, or something else, Dr Hopper?"

"Whatever you want it to be, Regina. Just so you know that you can put your faith in me that whatever is said here, this afternoon, is between us."

Regina nodded and let out a huge sigh before thinking about how to start. "Well, you could probably say it started when I invited Emma over for dinner with myself and Henry. We sat and talked civilly for a long time whilst we waited for Henry to arrive home from school. We didn't fight until after our food, when Henry was watching some television. We simply tormented each other and admittedly, it ended in a few laughs and a giant cupcake." As she remembered the fight, smiling at how immature they had both acted.

"So far so good, Regina." Dr Hopper said as he watched Regina's smile slowly fade. "Did Henry see your fight?"

"Only a little bit of it. He wasn't entirely happy about the fact that we were using magic, but as soon as he saw the gigantic cupcake that Miss Swan was cradling in her arms, he didn't care."

Dr Hopper nodded as an indication for Regina to continue her story. "After the fight, Emma and I decided to join Henry in front of the television, but he was asleep, so I transported him to bed. Emma and I watched the television for a few minutes before to two of us were completely asleep on my couch." Regina blushed at the shocked expression on Archie's face before continuing. "Henry woke us up this morning and laughed at the way Emma and I were snuggled together. I acted a little irrational, but it didn't really phase her as she sat with a smug look on her face. Anyway, I retreated into the kitchen to make Henry some breakfast and Emma followed. We flirted a little andikissedher."

Although Regina ended her sentence as fast as she could, Archie caught every single word and unprofessionally let his jaw drop. "And...um..." He stuttered, "how do you feel about the kiss?"

"I feel a lot better than I should!" Regina admitted. "In a way, I'm glad it happened, but I'm also terrified that it did. I've been experiencing all sorts of emotions that I had hidden away and I'm becoming far too vulnerable far too fast. If Emma and I hadn't kissed I never would have been this vulnerable. I think we both know what would have happened with that lot outside if we didn't kiss."

"The curse wouldn't have happened." Archie said, surprising himself. "As much you would hate to hear this, Madam Mayor, the way you look at Miss Swan is something that cannot be overlooked. When she isn't looking, you look at her as if she is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen."

"I do not!" Regina yelled with offence, before calming herself and realising that what Archie had said was true. "Is it really obvious?"

Regina stared at the doctor, who held her gaze and nodded. "And obviously Emma feels the same about you, otherwise the curse wouldn't have broken and we wouldn't be having this conversation. I just didn't expect it to have happened so fast."

"Neither did I, Dr Hopper," Regina sighed, "neither did I."

"Where is Emma now?"

"I left her and Henry at the diner with the Charmings." She rolled her eyes and slumped her elbows onto the table in the same manner that Emma would have. "I told her we needed to forget about all of this and get on with or lives."

"Did you mean what you said?"

"At the time? Yes." Regina sighed once again, "But now? Not in the slightest. I was scared and I didn't want to hurt her, but clearly I hurt her more by leaving her."

* * *

After her conversation with her mother, Emma left the diner as fast as she could, praying that Regina would stop shutting herself off and actually listen to the fact that Emma wanted to be around her and help her, no matter what it cost her. Seeing Regina hurt or even momentarily vulnerable made Emma feel guilty that she wasn't there to help her, and now that she knew that Regina actually liked her made the guilt build up inside Emma more than ever.

So the first time ever, Mary Margaret was right - Emma needed to see Regina. She needed to tell Regina that she didn't care about any consequences that could come with any sort of relationship between them. She needed Regina to know and fully understand that she had fallen in love with her. But there was something they both needed to understand - true love's kiss doesn't lie. Neither Emma nor Regina were willing to believe it, even if both of them craved the idea that their kiss was true.

Every time Emma headed towards Mifflin Street her heart would skip in knowing that she was soon to see Regina, but this time, her chest felt tight and butterflies grew and fluttered in her stomach, making her feel physically sick with nerves. All she hoped was that Regina would forget about what she said in the diner and actually allow Emma to be around her so they could deal with the entire idea of their 'true love's kiss'.

As she turned the corner onto Mifflin Street, Emma's eyes were quickly averted to Dr. Hopper's car, which was parked directly outside of Regina's front gate. "Shit." She muttered to herself as she came to a complete halt. She contemplated bursting in through the door, taking Regina by the waist and planting a deep kiss on her mouth, the idea of which was completely overthrown at the thought of Regina's aftermath. Emma was sure whether she would make it out alive if she did such a thing, especially with Archie there to witness the entire thing.

In defeat, she slouched her shoulders and turned instantly on her heel to head back toward's the apartment she still shared with her parents. As much as she wanted to talk to Regina, the thought of talking to her with Archie around made her fear for her life. That was something she didn't need - a relationship lecture from Jiminy Cricket.

Her quick return to the apartment gave her mother a fright as the door was flung open. To Emma's dismay, her parents had arrived home shortly before she had and was surprised to see her so soon. Her frustration filled her mind and instantly drowned her in irritation. Avoiding eye contact with her parents, she threw herself onto the couch like a sulking teenager and folded her arms across her chest as she curled into a little ball. This position always made her feel comfortable when she lived alone for twenty-eight years - it was her protection.

"Emma, sweetie," Mary Margaret said sympathetically as she crossed the room to comfort her daughter, "what happened?" She stroked Emma's hair, pulling strands away from her face.

"Nothing." Emma snapped. "I'm sorry, I'm just confused."

"It's okay, honey. What happened?"

Even though Mary Margaret's tone was comforting and heartfelt, Emma simply wanted to push her away and be alone. 'She's your mom, Emma, you can't do that,' she told herself before sitting up to face her mother.

"Nothing happened." Emma sighed, "I walked to her street and found Archie's car parked outside and ran home because I was afraid. I was afraid she would push me away even more because he was there and I just couldn't do it."

Nodding with understanding, Mary Margaret knelt in front of her daughter and cupped her chin. "She won't push you away if you tell her everything. Be honest with her, Emma." She gave a light smile towards her daughter before movement at the back of the apartment caught her eye. "Your father and Henry dropped Regina off at her house, they're sword fighting around the apartment for some reason." Both women let out a light laugh which faded fast.

"Oh, hey, Em!" David panted as he came into view. "I thought you would have been with Regina; trying to get rid of all of those people on her front yard and all."

"What?" Emma snapped as she jumped up from the couch, almost knocking her mother over.

"The crowd of people outside Regina's house...because of the curse..." David said slowly, trying to read Emma's expression. "You don't know, do you?"

Emma shook her head. Her legs felt paralysed as she tried to run for the door in fear of Regina's state, knowing how vulnerable she had fallen within a matter of hours. Not she understood why Archie was there. If only she had plucked up enough courage to actually go to Regina's house, maybe she would have been okay.

"How many?" Emma managed to spit out.

"Hundreds." David replied honestly, giving Mry Margaret a confused look.

"Go to her." Mary Margaret whispered in her daughter's ear. "The bug's keys are by the door."

Emma nodded as she ran towards the front door, grabbed her car keys and ran straight for the stairs. She didn't stop until she got in her bug, which roared to life immediately.

* * *

_Meanwhile;_

"Regina, if you love Emma and Emma loves you, you can't push her away." Archie advised the now tear filled brunette. "You have to accept that you are both in love and want to be a part of each other's lives. Emma isn't stupid, Regina. She knows what she would be getting herself into. And you need to understand that if she's willing to defend you, she wants to be here for you."

Now letting her tears fall freely once again, Regina knew that throughout their conversation, Archie was always right. "But people are going to hate us for it. I mean, I was the Evil Queen for crying out loud and she's the Saviour - the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming!" Regina couldn't control her sobs now, making Archie stand from his seat and kneel by Regina's side, giving her a comforting side-hug. "I can't let everyone turn against her, Dr Hopper, it just wouldn't be fair."

"What wouldn't be fair, Regina, would be you pushing Emma away like you don't love her, even though you do. I know your afraid to let your walls down to love someone again, but Cora isn't here anymore and no one else is going to stop you from getting your happy ending - except you."

"We're telepathically connected." Regina blurted, feeling the need to express her confusion over the connection. "After the kiss, whenever we thought about each other or something we wanted to say to the other we would hear it."

"Have you spoken to her through your connection since you left the diner?" Archie asked and sat on the chair next to Regina and placed his hand reassuringly on her knee.

"No." Regina shook her head and let her eyes lock on a vase in the corner of the room in an attempt to avoid looking at Dr Hopper. "I was too afraid that she would ignore me." She let out a long sigh before changing the subject to something that was troubling her mind just as much as Emma was. "What am I going to do about my entire collection of royal guards in my front yard?"

* * *

Emma sped down Main Street, attempting to dodge all of the people who didn't get out of her way fast enough. With the little yellow bug barely hitting fifty miles per hour through the town, Emma began to regret not taking the Sheriff's cruiser that was still parked outside her parents apartment.

Quickly turning onto Mifflin Street, Emma gasped at the sight she had missed less than an hour ago. She parked the car in front of Dr. Hopper's and leaped out. The sight of hundreds of royal guards standing in the front yard of 108 Mifflin Street made Emma's stomach turn in worry for Regina. She pushed her way through the crowd and made it onto the porch to recompose herself.

Without thinking or planning what she was going to say, Emma threw open the door and ran into the house. Two shocked gasps gave away the location of both Regina and Dr. Hopper - the dining room. She ran into the room and stopped immediately when she was inside. Regina's face was tear stained and heartbroken, whereas Dr. Hopper looked as though he was about to have a mental breakdown.

As soon as Emma regained her breath, she slowly walked towards Regina and offered the brunette her hand. Reluctantly, Regina took it and let Emma pull her out of the chair.

"Regina, I know this had been a terrifying and confusing day for both of us, but I need to say something." Emma said as she stared into Regina's brown eyes and took her other hand.

As if to say something, Regina opened her mouth and closed it again when Emma gave her hands a tight squeeze.

"I'm falling in love with you, Regina Mills." Emma declared, taking the brunette by surprise. "Do you think I would be here if I didn't? From the very first day we met, I knew you were an asshole, but I knew that you were beautiful and broken and afraid and I also knew that I had fallen for you almost immediately. I may sound like an idiot, but I want you to know that I'm here for you because I love you."

As the green and brown eyes locked together, neither wanted to look away. Regina's heartbeat increased and tears began to form in her eyes once again as she let out a little smile. "You are an idiot, Miss Swan." Regina laughed and looked lovingly at Emma before pulling her hands out of the blonde's grasp and threw hear arms around the woman's neck to pull her into a deep kiss.

Dr. Hopper turned around at the sight of Emma's hands wandering down Regina's back and becoming comfortable as they settled on the brunette's ass, of which she gave a light squeeze, making Regina let out a tiny moan into Emma's mouth. The noise made Emma tingle with excitement and built up her arousal. Dr. Hopper on the other hand, was still standing with his back towards the women and let out a gentle cough, as if to remind them that she was still in the room.

Regina laughed, pulling away from the kiss and looked directly into Emma's emerald green eyes. "And I think I'm falling in love with you too, Emma." She smiled and let the blonde pull her into a deep hug. "What made you come over?" Regina whispered as Emma held her close.

"My mother." Emma sighed, hoping that Regina wouldn't overreact.

"You told your mother about this?" She shouted, pushing Emma away from her, "Emma, are you stupid? We don't even know what's going on ourselves, let alone have the entire town asking us!"

"Regina..."

"No, Emma, you know what your mother is like." Regina huffed and pushed away every attempt that Emma made to touch her. "By the time you leave her, the whole town will know because she has probably already rounded up a mob of people to come here with pitch forks and torches to kill me for even going anywhere near their 'Saviour'!"

"Regina, shut up for a second!" Emma bellowed, shocking Regina into silence. "She told me to come here because she knew that our kiss was true love's kiss. She wanted me to tell you that I am in love with you. Trust me, Regina, she's not going to tell anyone about this." She snickered.

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?" Regina snapped, feeling offended.

"I mean, come on, the true love of Snow White's daughter just so happens to be the Evil Queen? There's no chance that she's going to run around town screaming that at the top of her lungs." Emma chuckled, making Regina smile a little too. "I didn't mean to offend you."

Regina hesitated, questioning whether Emma's attempt at an apology actually meant something, or whether she was saying it because she was afraid. Either way, Regina felt conflicted; she disliked the fact that Emma had told her mother about what they had experienced that morning, but she also felt accepted that Snow actually told Emma to run to her house.

"This is good," Archie spoke from the corner of the room, "look how far you have both come in just a day. This is a big leap in accepting everything."

The sound of Archie's voice startled the women. They both got lost in the moment and completely forgot that Archie was standing in the room and watching everything. "Dr. Hopper, remember when I asked if our conversation was between friends or of doctor-patient confidentiality?" Archie nodded in understanding, knowing what she wanted to ask before she said it. "Let's go with the latter. No one can know about this until we know whats going on."

"Regina, Gold already knows." Emma piped up and ignored the fact that Regina wanted to add another little secret to her belt. "He's known from the moment we walked into his shop this morning."

"It would be ideal to deal with your situation outside before thinking about anything else, Madam Mayor." Archie muttered. He knew Regina would be too afraid to even think about that right now, but with Emma by her side, he hoped that she would be able to pull through it and remain as strong as he knew she was.

Regina's tanned face turned pale at the thought. _**'I can't do it.'**_

_**'Yes you can, Regina.'**_

Emma reached for Regina's hands and took them in her own, rubbing comforting circles on the top of them before looking deep into her tear-filled brown eyes. "I'm going to be here for you, okay?"

* * *

_**A/N: thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I also hope you would be kind enough to leave a little review as they are much appreciate and they are my muse to write more. Also, a massive thank you to everyone that has already reviewed, followed or fave'd, it means so much to me and I can't thank you all enough! As always, I'll see you on Monday! Have a great weekend!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_After returning from Neverland, Emma and Regina's relationship had never been better. Not only were they talking, but they were also both spending time together with Henry - like a proper family. But will the return of unexpected things get in the way or even fire up a possible romance? A Swan Queen AU fic._

* * *

**_A/N: Hey guys! Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews I've have over the past two weeks, they mean so much and I just love to see that you are all really enjoying this. Okay, so this chapter is a lot shorter than the others because it started off as one big long chapter that was like 10,000 words long and that was insane so I kinda left this on a rather large cliffhanger. But you'll all understand why I did it, I promise! Enjoy!_**

* * *

**CHAPTER SIX**

_"She told me to come here because she knew that our kiss was true love's kiss. She wanted me to tell you that I am in love with you. Trust me, Regina, she's not going to tell anyone about this."_

As soon as Emma left the apartment, Mary Margaret attempted everything in her being not to look at her husband, who was standing in the middle of the room with his hands on his hips and a dumbfound look across his face whilst watching his wife's every move. He knew something was up and his wife's demeanour was certainly making no attempt to hide it.

In hope that David wouldn't try to converse over what had just happened, Mary Margaret began picking up random items to move them, plumping cushions and even tried to clean things that were obviously already clean. The longer she remaind silent, the more she knewdrag David would be racking his brains about what was going on.

"What was that about?" David asked, finally breaking the silence.

"What was what about, dear?" Returning the question and turning her back on her husband, Mary Margaret was waiting to burst.

"Oh, I don't know," the sarcasm in David's voice sent a shiver through Mary Margaret's body - a shiver of regret and dishonesty. "maybe it's something to do with the fact that as soon as I mentioned Regina being alone with a yard full of royal guards, Emma completely freaked out. What's up with her, Mary Maragret? What's going on?"

"Um, well..." Mary Margaret stuttered, praying that she could keep her promise with Emma. "You know, Emma and Regina are good friends now. I think she was just looking out for her. Emma is a good person, David. She doesn't like to see people get hurt, that's why she was so concerned about Regina."

She hadn't realised she had been holding her breath until the lie trickled out of her mouth and almost gasped for air. As bad as she felt about lying to her husband, Mary Margaret also felt a sense of relief in knowing that she had kept her promise with Emma so far. It usually would have taken one single look with her husband for all of her secrets to come flying out, except this time, she had more than her husband to keep happy.

If Emma and Regina were to have a relationship, Mary Margaret thought, Emma would most certainly tell her father when she was ready. She knew that this wasn't her place to tell him. She had already lost Emma once, she couldn't lose her again.

"You're lying to me, Snow." He deadpanned and crossed his arms over his chest. "What is going on between Emma and Regina?"

"I don't know, David! And if I did know, I wouldn't say anything because it wouldn't be my place to say it!" On realising that she had began shouting, Mary Margaret closed her mouth and let her expression apologise. "Besides, she's a grown woman, we shouldn't get involved in any of this!"

"You're still lying to me! Whatever you're hiding from me, Mary Margaret, I will find out." David huffed and reached for his jacket off the coat rack. "I'm going for a walk. Henry is playing computer games if you want to check in him. Just don't lie to him as well. You know how much he hates liars."

Without another word, David left the apartment and slammed the door. That was one thing he hated - being lied to. It wasn't something Mary Margaret ever did, which made it even worse. She could barely keep a secret from David, let alone tell a massive lie to him. Clearly something was happening between his daughter and the mayor, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

The strangest bit about it all, was that Emma and Regina had sent so long hating each other, it was actually painful to see them act like friends.

* * *

Emma and Regina stood behind the door of 108 Mifflin Street, desperately holding each others hand. Regina was shaking and almost on the verge of crying, whereas Emma stood tall in her stance and felt determined to face whatever was about to occur when they opened the door. All she hoped, was that Regina wouldn't build up her walls and block her out when she need her the most.

"Regina, I'm going to wait in here for you just incase you need me, okay?" Archie reassured her and took a seat on the bottom step of the curved staircase. "When you feel that you have had enough, all you need to do is to be reluctant about having people talk to you and they will stop."

Nodding in appreciation and understanding, Regina took a deep breath and reached for the door handle to pull it open. As it slowly opened to reveal a crowd of royal guards standing in her front yard, the fear inside her began to grow faster and faster, causing her to squeeze Emma's hand a lot tighter than she had intended to.

Hundreds of expressionless faces had their eyes instantly locked onto Emma and Regina as they stepped out onto the porch together. The blonde gave a reassuring and comforting squeeze of the hand tangled in her own and waited for someone to speak.

* * *

Mary Margaret left Henry to his own accord, knowing that if he was anything like his mothers, he didn't want to be disturbed or start any form of conversation. Instead she flopped herself onto her couch with a sigh and began to pity herself for the conversation she had just had with her husband.

She regretted not telling him, of course, but she also would have hated herself if she did tell him. If she had told him, she knew that with the ever growing relationship Emma ahead with her father, there was no doubt he would run straight to his blonde child and pry her away from the woman who tried to ruin their lives.

It wasn't as if she wanted Emma to be in love with Regina, she just hoped that it would have been someone else. And a man. Of course, nothing ever seemed to go the was she wanted it to.

"Don't beat yourself up over it, Snow." Came a voice from the corner of the room. "I know what's happened, dear, and you did make the wrong choice. And so has Emma."

Looking up to find the person who the voice belonged to, the angst inside Mary Margaret merely grew. "Blue? What on earth are you talking about?"

The Blue Fairy had appeared in the corner of the apartment, dressed in her Mother Superior clothes and glowing blue wings stretched behind her. A smug look on her face proved to Mary Margaret that she was planning something.

Unlike Emma and Regina, Mary Margaret still found Blue's actions to be worthy and truthful, even if people did get hurt in the process. She had helped her on so many accounts, it was difficult to believe that her actions weren't for the greater good.

"Emma and Regina - I know everything." Blue sighed and crossed the room to sit next to Mary Margaret. "Since I am and always will be, the fairy for your family, I tend to know what happens. Well, everything except for what Emma told you at the diner. She blocked out her connection which prevented me from knowing what she has told you."

"That's because it was private, Blue." The confusion in Mary Margaret's tone began to question Blue's intentions with knowing about said conversation. "Why would you need to know?"

"Snow, I think your daughter is in danger." The fairy replied bluntly.

"What do you mean, Blue?" Mary Margaret's voice soon became concerned and welcomed anything the Blue had to offer.

"Regina is manipulative and I know that you're trying to forgive her and allow her to change, but I don't think you understand. Regina is going to use this against you - all of you." Blue said, and took Mary Margaret's hand in her own. "Whatever Emma has told you, Regina isn't her true love. It's an illusion."

* * *

"Whenever you're ready, Regina." Emma whispered, knowing how terrified the brunette was.

Movement from the back of the group startled Emma; she instantly assumed that the person was going to attempt to attack Regina straight away, but instead, he merely smiled as he stood before her.

"Thank you, your Majesty," The guard standing before them nodded before continuing his piece, "Thank you for protecting me."

He smiled again before disappearing. The heavy burden on Regina's shoulders suddenly felt lighter with the hope that the remainder of this activity would be as smooth sailing as it had been so far.

The man who had stood before her was a dear acquaintance to Regina, as he was one of the stable boys that worked under King Leopold. Regina killed him out of mercy. The King believed that she was having an affair with him, causing instant rage to build inside the king and ordered his immediate death. Regina however, blamed herself for the occurrence and offered her services to end his life rather than to die by the hand of the King.

He accepted her offer and she ripped out his heart and crushed it before any of the Kings men realised that he had disappeared. She felt the mercy killing was something for the greater good. That was until she craved the feel of a heating heart in her hand once again. Her bloodlust only grew during her time under Leopold's hold.

Another guard stepped forward, this time it was an older man. Regina recognised the man and smirked. The glare on his face frightened Emma more than Regina, but rather than expressing her fear, she stepped forward a little and held Regina's hand behind her back, almost attempting to offer herself as Regina's shield, of which she was incredibly grateful.

"You killed me." The croaky voice started as he continued to walk towards the two standing on the porch. "I had a family and you killed me, your majesty. I hope you're happy with the pain you've caused over the years."

He continued to approach until his foot came within inches of the first step onto the porch when he disappeared. Fortunately, his time was up, leaving him with no chance of getting anywhere near Regina. He did however, remind her of the endless nights she spent lying awake with her thoughts wanting to the families she had ruined whenever she killed.

Her fear built once again as she questioned whether some would actually get close enough to actually attack her. She took another deep breath and let her entire body shake with anxiety.

'_**You're doing great.'**_

Regina allowed a small smile as she continued to look out onto her yard for faces she remembered or recognised. It was difficult to tell when the majority of the guards wore their helmets and drooped their heads, but some guards were too easily recognised. Some deaths stuck in her head and haunted her for years.

The next appearance, to Emma's surprise, was a woman. Her confidence and glare set Emma on edge. She stalked through the crowd of people and continued walking up the steps of the porch before pushing Emma to the ground, gripping Regina around the neck and pinning her against the front door.

"You bitch." She spat at the squirming brunette beneath her grasp. "The Dark One chose me - not you. I could have been great and powerful, but you had to ruin it, didn't you, Princess?"

Emma pushed herself off the floor and ran towards the woman standing over Regina in an attempt to tackle her to the floor. Expecting the impact of the other woman's body, she landed on the floor with a thump and a sudden realisation hit that she had fallen through the attacker and landed alone. Regina watched Emma fall and tried pulling herself out of the grasp of the Dark One's former apprentice.

"Who did you have to kill to get her to defend you like that?" She tilted her head and smirked at Regina, who's fear suddenly turned to anger.

"Everyone I loved most." Regina snapped and swung for the woman who disappeared on contact. "Emma..."

She rushed across the porch to the blonde that lay in confusion on the floor. "I hate magic so much." Emma muttered under her breath. "Are you okay?"

Regina nodded and awkwardly leaned towards Emma for a hug. As soon as their bodies touched in the embrace, Regina felt her heart race faster than ever before. If these events didn't prove that Emma loved her, then nothing ever would. No one had ever attempted to defend her in the way Emma did; anyone else defended her out of fear of being killed.

'**_Thank you, Emma,'_**

Emma held Regina's shaking shaking body close her own and felt surprisingly safe, even if there were still hundreds of people waiting in the front yard. Under Emma's grasp, Regina too felt safe, even if she didn't want to admit it.

* * *

"Blue, I think you're wrong." Mary Margaret said, startling the fairy. "I mean, there were times in Neverland where she could have killed all of us, but she didn't because she's trying to change. She has saved us countless times and we're still alienating her because of something she did in the past. And no, I didn't really want my daughter to be in love with the Evil Qu- Regina, but if Regina loves her back and promises to protect her, then who am I to argue?"

"She won't protect her, Snow. Emma has a true love, but it isn't Regina. There is a spell I can cast, it's a spell that will make Emma's true love glow, we just need her to agree to it, then we'll see whether this stuff is real or not. Believe me, it's not."

"Fine," Mary Margaret deadpanned; she knew that Emma was telling the truth, she just needed a little more proof and if Blue could provide her with an element of truth, then that was something she was willing to take. "And if her true love isn't Regina...?"

"Oh, don't worry, dear. I have something in mind." The Blue Fairy smirked with accomplishment.

* * *

"Is everything okay out here?" Archie asked and peered his head around the door. "I heard a couple of thuds then complete silence. I got a little worried."

"We're fine, Dr. Hopper." Regina said as she pulled from Emma's grasp and stared deep into the blonde's deep green eyes when she lifted the blonde's chin with her index finger. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm okay." Emma smiled and held Regina's gaze until she noticed the bright red mark around the brunette's neck. "Oh my god, Regina, she's hurt you."

Emma reached out and lightly pressed her fingers onto the mark on Regina's neck. She hadn't realised how tight the grasp had been around her neck until she felt Emma's light contact. When the sting hit, she gasped and pulled away, leaving Emma's sorry filled eyes watching her every move.

"I'm sorry. Do you want to take a little break and try again later?" She suggested.

"No, I'll be okay." Regina stood up and offered her hand to help Emma stand. "A few more won't hurt, I'm sure."

Emma took the brunette's hand and pulled herself up awkwardly. "Thanks," she murmured and stood in front of the door once again and waited for Regina to join her.

As Regina stood by Emma's side once again, she brushed her hand over the blonde's and waited for her to take it. Once her hand was firmly tangled with Emma's, she took a deep breath and stared into the crowd.

This time, Archie watched the turn of events from the window of the study, just incase one of them reacted again. He watched how close Emma and Regina had come within a couple of hours. It was odd to see the two standing in such a close proximity, let alone holding hands and intertwining their fingers. The weird feeling he had about the image was most certainly overcome by how happy he was to see them working together and not fighting.

Of course, it would defiantly take some time for them to stop the hurtful and snarky comments, but it was Emma and Regina, there was a high possibility that they won't ever stop bickering, even if they decided to take the relationship further. That was something Archie wanted - Emma and Regina to be a couple. To be a family and love their son together. For two broken people to fall in love, god only knows if they could fix each other.

Being more focused on the two women standing on the porch together, Archie hadn't noticed the tall dark man walking towards them and climbing the steps of the porch.

The closer the guard became, the more Regina squeezed Emma's hand. This time, she was terrified. She had remembered his death and remembered being haunted by the memories for months afterwards. She had killed him because he was the first of her guards to fail to kill King Leopold.

She had tried on countless occasions to bring the man down herself but to no avail. She had asked this guard to kill the king in his sleep with the King's own sword. When the guard left the King's bedchamber with a tiny dagger in his hand and the smallest trickle of blood on the blade, she knew he had failed her.

Upon being asked about the deed, the guard held the dagger tightly in his hand and advanced towards his Queen. At the time she merely chuckled as he pinned her against the wall and held the dagger to her throat. With the smallest flick of her wrist, his grasp fell loose as he landed on the floor with a thud. She reached into his chest and ripped his heart out and held it above his body before she began to squeeze. The ash and dust from the remains of the heart were scattered across his body.

"You poisonous bitch." The guard shouted as he came within inches of Regina's face. "You didn't have to kill me, you know. I didn't want to commit treason! Anyone else and I would have, but it was the King, you were supposed to have loved him!"

Just as the guard began to step forward, he disappeared, leaving Regina breathless and feeling weak. Her legs began to shake and her grasp on Emma's hand became tighter. Reacting quickly, Emma wrapped her arms around Regina just as she began to fall, catching her and using her own body to cushion her fall.

"It's okay, he's gone." Emma cooed and held Regina close to her body. "He can't hurt you now."

Emma's instant reaction caused Regina's chest to tighten. Being held and reassured was something that never happened to her, nor did she ever expect it to. Especially from Emma. All of the occurrences of the day overwhelmed Regina to the point where she gave up on fighting her emotions once again and let herself cry in Emma's embrace.

The blonde began to thread her fingers through Regina's hair and slowly rocked the limp and crying woman in her arms. Seeing the people approach them made Emma realise why Regina had built her walls. None of this was really her fault. No, it was Cora's. Cora made this mess and now Regina was the one to clean it all up.

Without her walls, Emma realised how weak and timid Regina must have been whilst her mother was building her up into a stone cold queen. As much as she hated seeing seeing Regina with her walls up, seeing the woman so broken and vulnerable actually hurt her. She wanted hold her tight and protect her from the world, but she knew Regina would oblige. She knew that as soon as she had calmed down, the former queen would push the comforting blonde away.

"Come on, we'll go inside and grab a glass of cider." Emma said as she stroked the side of Regina's face and caught a few tears. "You need it."

"No." Regina refused and pushed herself off Emma and wiped away her tears. "I have to keep going. I'm letting my emotions control me again. Emotions are weakness, Miss Swan. Love is weakness."

She stood and took her stance in front of the door, shooting a glare at Emma when she tried to move. She took a deep breath and waited. Her wait wasn't long when she noticed movement in the corner of her eye.

It was a man dressed fairly smart for a peasant, Regina commented. He wore an outfit she recognised. Not only did she recognise it, she began to well up the longer she looked it. It was the dress of a stable boy, but not just any stable boy. Her stable boy. It was Daniel.


	7. Chapter 7

_After returning from Neverland, Emma and Regina's relationship had never been better. Not only were they talking, but they were also both spending time together with Henry - like a proper family. But will the return of unexpected things get in the way or even fire up a possible romance? A Swan Queen AU fic._

* * *

_**A/N: Hey guys! I'm sorry this is so late, but I've had very little time to write over the past few days because of the Christmas run-up and I've also been trying to write a chapter a day for my Christmas fic 'A Very Swan-Mills Christmas'. Anyway, I've decided to update this once a week instead of twice weekly due to time consumption! So, thank you all for reading/following/reviewing/favouriting my story, it's appreciated so much. If I don't update this story again before Christmas, I do hope you have a wonderful holiday! **_

_**Love,**_

_**Courtney-Louise**_

_**xoxo**_

* * *

_**CHAPTER SEVEN**_

She took a deep breath and waited. Her wait wasn't long when she noticed movement in the corner of her eye. A man dressed fairly smart for a peasant, Regina commented. It was an outfit she recognised. Not only did she recognise it, she began to well up the longer she saw it. It was the dress of a stable boy, but not just any stable boy. Her stable boy. It was Daniel.

Archie pounded on the window to Emma, feeling too scared to move. He knew what was about to happen and really didn't want to be in the way of Regina's wrath. Emma, on the other hand was too confused at the sight to notice what Archie was trying to tell her through the window. She watched as Regina's chest began to rise and fall faster than Emma had ever seen. The more she watched, the more she began to understand Regina's reaction.

From the moment she saw Regina's mouth open and eyes fill with tears, Emma knew right away who it was. The way he walked and approached Regina showed to Emma how much he loved her. It was clear that the man stood on the porch was Regina's former lover in the Enchanted Forest, and Emma knew all too well not to interrupt the reunion. The look of dread on his face was enough to tell Emma how reluctant he was to talk to the brunette.

Regina's heart pounded and fluttered in her chest. Her stomach turned and a lump in her throat grew until she couldn't breathe. Her entire body felt as though it was about to convulse. After the last time she saw him, she expected not to feel this way about him - especially after the danger he put both herself and Henry in. But the feeling overwhelmed her. It was the very same feeling that overwhelemed her when she had shared her first kiss with Emma; she felt conflicted, except this time, it was her head telling her she loved him, whereas her heart begged to differ.

"Daniel..." She sighed and reached out to place her hand on his cheek, completely forgetting what had happened when she attempted to do the same to her father.

This time however, her hand landed gently on Daniel's cheek. His cold skin came as a shock to her when her warm hand suddenly turned cold. His eyes were empty and his facial expression was not of existence. The last time they met, his eyes were filled with anger, fear and sorrow, and his skin was warm.

"Regina, my love," He began and placed his own hand upon Regina's warm cheek, turning it cold as fast as her hand had. "I am so sorry."

The tears welling up in her eyes were uncontrollable. It still pained her how much her head waned to believe that she still loved Daniel, and to see him again only exacerbated the situation. Regina couldn't help but feel as though she wanted to run away; she wanted to run, but her mind told her to stay with Daniel and her heart told her to stay for Emma. Instead of running and keeping her distance, Regina flung her arms around Daniel's neck and hung on for her dear life.

"I loved you, Regina." He whispered and smiled at the surprise embrace.

"I love you, too." She stuttered through broken tears. Her words were truthful from her mind, but as they left her mouth, she felt a pang in her heart that her words were a lie.

"But you can't love me, Regina. I am dead and you're alive. There is someone here that loves you; someone that is your true love. As much as you wish to believe that it was me, it really wasn't. I was your first love - thenlove you wanted because you never had it during your youth. If your mother hadn't killed me, there would be no doubt that you would have lived an incredibly unhappy life with me. I can't and never would have been able to give you the love that your true love can give you, Regina. Forget your past, forget me and love again. Love is strength, Regina, not weakness."

Although his words were truthful and honest, they hurt like daggers. Regina felt as though he was pushing her away and ignoring the love that they had once shared, even if it was due to her youth.

"Daniel, no. You are my true love." Her sobs returned and Emma swore she could see her heart breaking in her eyes. As much as Regina hated to admit her ever growing love for Emma, she knew that no one else would be hers.

Refusing to sit and watch Regina torture herself with the scene, Emma stood and walked behind Regina. Her timing was impeccable. The moment she stood directly behind the brunette, Daniel gave one last smile with a shake of his head and disappeared. Seeing him leave so suddenly and watching her arms fall through thin air, Regina began to break apart even more. She fell to her knees, only to be caught by the blonde standing behind her. Even though her embrace was needed, Regina felt it unwanted. She didn't want to have someone to catch her when she fell, she didn't want to have someone holding her hand through everything; her mind continued to tell her that all she really wanted was Daniel.

Daniel's disappearance didn't cause an ache in her heart like it had when she left Emma in the diner merely hours ago. Instead, her head began to mourn the loss more than anything else.

Realising Emma's dilemma and noticing that he could finally move again, Archie ran towards the door and joined Emma and Regina on the porch. He watched as Regina attempted to squirm her way out of Emma's grasp. She remained in a state of hysterically crying and violently swinging her arms around to get herself away from the strong grasp around her. Knowing the damage she would cause if she was to let go, Emma simply held on tighter, refused to let go and waited for Regina to calm down and settle into her arms.

When the brunette had stopped fighting Emma's hold, she melted into the hold around her and actually began to welcome the idea of the security of having someone to hold her and catch her whenever she fell. All of the feelings welling up inside of her was clearly clouding her judgement about the situation. She couldn't get attached to the blonde; this time she couldn't listen to her heart because she couldn't set herself up for the fall. Emma leaves; that's what she does and it's what she's always done. She saves herself from falling too deep and becoming attached. That's what Regina reminded herself that she needed to do. She couldn't become attached because in the end, everyone leaves.

"Emma, let me go," She insisted and continued to squirm around after she realised that the longer she stayed in Emma's arms, the more she would want to be there.

"No way, Regina." Emma refused, "Both you and I know that if I let you go you're going to let your wrath out on someone. You want to change, right? Then listen to Daniel, he wants you to move on and forget your past. Regina, he wants you to love someone again and change who you've become."

"You didn't know who I was in the first place, Miss Swan," Regina bit back, hoping that her words would hurt and let Emma release her. "How can you say that I can change who I am becoming? How can you pretend like you know whats going on? You don't know anything about any of this."

"No, Regina, I didn't know who you were, that's why I believe that you're not the Evil Queen anymore. It's also why I know that you can change; you can be who you once were. You can start a fresh, you just need to trust someone." Emma could feel Regina giving up her fight but kept her grip just incase. "All I'm asking is that you trust me."

"How can I trust you when you can't even forget your own past? You have Baelfire traipsing around after you like a lost puppy, expecting you to fall on your knees and act like you love him again. And then you have the pirate who believes that he can make you forget your past with his endless flask of rum. You still haven't even opened up to your parents about the fact that you don't want them to smother you because spending twenty-eight years without them made you vulnerable. Oh yeah, thats a great reason to trust you. And let me guess, just because its become known to the both of us that we're 'true loves', do you really think I intend to love you?"

Hearing the words fall out of her mouth made Regina want to turn around and instantly hug the blonde in an attempt to apologise, but she simply couldn't. Everything she said was only spoken aloud because she was afraid. No, she was terrified. She was afraid to love Emma, she was afraid to hurt her and she was afraid that Emma would hurt her just as easily. But one thing that surprised her was the fact that she wasn't afraid to lose Daniel all over again. Seeing him leave hurt her but now that he had gone, her heart ached only for Emma,

Emma's silence echoed the truth that she had really hurt the blonde. "I'm sorry," Regina whispered.

"Don't even bother, Regina." Emma warned but still kept her grasp around the brunette, even if she had made her cry out of fury. "You know, falling in love with you wasn't exactly something I had expected either. But you know what? That's life, it's incredibly fucked up and nothing really goes the way we planned it to. I know I still have trouble forgetting my past, but I'm trying. I've welcomed my parents into my life, I've told Neal that I don't want him, I even attempted to tell Killian Jones that I wasn't even remotely interested in him and now I'm trying to tell you that you're the only one that I want, because you're the only one who understands me. You're the only one who has helped me try to forget my past. Without you, I probably would have left Storybrooke, left Henry, given up on the curse and I probably would have been living alone in an apartment in Boston; wasting away my life."

"So, you're never going to leave?" Regina asked, both irritated and concerned.

"No, not unless both you and Henry want me to." Emma's tears had stopped because she knew that she was beginning to mean less and less to Regina and that she would only push her away even further. "And you probably already want me to leave."

"I don't want you to leave." Regina began to realise how much Daniel's words meant to her. He wanted her to move on. He wanted her to love again. "I want you to stay, but I also want you to know that I can't love you. It took me years to want to try and love again, and when Henry arrived I knew that the love I gave him would be the only love I could ever give. So find someone else because I can't give you the love and happy ending that you deserve."

"And what if you are my happy ending, Regina? What happens then?"

"I don't know, Emma, I don't know." Regina sighed and leaned further into Emma's embrace, clutching the arms wrapped tightly around her waist. She leaned her head back onto Emma's shoulder and closed her eyes.

* * *

"We have to find Emma and tell her that Regina isn't her true love, Snow." The Blue Fairy demanded as she stood up from the couch in Mary Margaret's apartment.

"She's at Regina's house right now." Mary Margaret informed, hoping that her choice was the right one. As much as she would hate to see Emma heart broken, she would much rather help her soothe a broken heart that watch her falsely love Regina Mills.

"Take my hand. We probably don't have much time before Emma begins to believe it even more than she already does." Blue held out her hand to Mary Margaret and instantly evaporated them, sending them directly outside the home of the reelected Mayor Mills.

The gate was ajar and the yard was filled with people. David had told Emma about the scene, but Mary Margaret didn't entirely believe that this was what he meant. The two looked further into the front yard to find Regina lying in Emma's arms on the porch and Archie standing by their side. Mary Margaret's immediate reaction told her to pull Regina out of Emma's arms and drag her daughter home, but she knew that Emma would refuse.

"Hello Regina, Emma, Dr Hopper." Blue said as she pushed the gate further open and started up the path.

"What in the hell do you want?" Regina asked, pushing herself out of Emma's grasp and standing to face the Blue Fairy. Emma knew all to well but to attempt to hold her back, especially in front of her mother and Blue.

"Well dear, we've come to see Emma to inform her that the accusation she made of the two of you being 'true loves' was actually incorrect." Blue added a little smile to her sarcastic reply and stared directly at Regina. "So, Madam Mayor, what have you done to cause Emma to be so head over heels for you?"

"Nothing actually, Blue." Regina rolled her eyes and landed them on Snow, who was standing directly behind the fairy. "Oh, okay, I see where this is going. The two of you don't want me anywhere near Emma, so you've decided to attempt to make me out to be the villain, again."

**_'Regina, don't. This is all Mother Superior. None of this is my mother; if it was do you think she would have sent me here in the first place?'_**

'_**Like I said, Emma; I can't love you.'**_

"Emma, would you come here for a second, dear?" Mary Margaret asked, sounding too motherly for Emma's liking.

"If you want me to leave, just so you know, I'm not leaving here." Emma said as she stood by Regina's side. "I'm not leaving Regina to deal with all of this on her own."

"We're not asking you to leave, Emma," Blue continued, "we're asking for your permission to prove that Regina isn't your true love."

Regina nodded at Emma when she was given a sidewards glance. "Fine."

Blue smiled and took out a small vial of dust and shook it before taking out the cork at the top. She instructed Emma to step closer to her and asked Regina to stand by the door of her house. Both obliged and Blue began to pour a little of the fairy dust in her hand before lightly blowing it into Emma's face. The blonde sneezed and looked up towards the fairy in confusion of what to expect. But instead, she could tell what had happened just by looking into her face. She turned around to find Regina glowing the same blue colour as the dust that had been blown into her face.

"That wasn't supposed to happen, was it, Blue?" Regina smirked as she leaned against the door to her house. "Oh go on, do tell me how I was miraculously able to force Emma Swan to be my 'true love', even though both you and I know that it is impossible to force ones hand in the matter of love."

The Blue Fairy stared at Regina before letting her eyes fall onto Emma, who's expression was almost identical to Regina's. They both stood with sinister smirks on their faces and a lot of annoyance in their eyes. Without another word, she twirled on her heel and ushered Mary Margaret out of the front yard before evaporating them once again.

"So, what do we do now?" Emma asked as she turned to face Regina.

"Well, I refuse to deal with all of this," she gestured towards the ever present crowd in her front yard and advanced towards Emma. "So now I believe we pay a little visit to dear old Rumple."

Regina held out her arm to Emma as an indication that they were going to follow suit with Blue and Mary Margaret by evaporating to the pawn shop on Main Street. Archie remained standing alone on the porch as the two disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. He lingered on the porch for a little while longer before sighing in disbelief of what had actually happened that day.

* * *

"Rumple!" Regina yelled as the two appeared in a cloud of purple smoke inside the pawn shop.

"Hello dearie," Rumple said as he emerged from behind the curtain, smiling as soon as his eyes fell onto Emma standing behind Regina. "What can I do for you both this afternoon?"

"Cut the crap, you know why we're here." Regina snapped and leaned on the counter. "We know we broke the curse, we don't understand how we're 'true loves' and we sure as hell don't know what to do while you mess around in an attempt to remake the curse."

"Ah, good." He grinned as he leaned forward on his cane, "Talking about the curse; you two were meant to secure the damn thing. I've known that the two of you were the true love of the other for quite some time, but obviously the two of you were too busy going at each other's throats to actually realise how well suited you were. So, I used that to lock the curse. Since I never thought you would act upon it and actually kiss, it seemed like a pretty good idea."

"Okay, so what's the catch?" Emma questioned, knowing Rumple all too well now, "There's got to be a reason why you wanted us to come here, other than for you to just marvel in your previous knowledge."

"To create a counter curse, the two of you are required to act on your new found true love." Rumple smiled at the dumbfound Looks on the women's faces. "So that means ladies, you've got to actually admit to yourselves, and to each other, that you're in love. Because we all know all too well that you each love the other."

"This is insanity." Regina stated as she pushed herself off the glass counter. "How are we supposed to do it?"

"Well, you're a lot more obliging than I thought you would have been." He said as he let out one of his infamous giggles. "You might want to start with a date night."

"Fine, but you have to babysit your grandson whilst Emma and I have a 'date night'." Secretly, the idea of spending some alone time with Emma excited Regina, so Rumple's suggestion was something she was willing to metaphorically grasp with both hands.

"Do I not get a say in any of this?" Emma asked as she rested her hands on her hips. Regina raised her eyebrow in order for Emma to elaborate on what she had just said. "It's not that I don't want to go on a date night with you, Regina, because I do, its just that I don't think we should publicise these dates."

"Then what do you suggest, Miss Swan?" Regina questioned and knit her eyebrows.

"I don't know, maybe like something we did last night; a home cooked meal, a movie and less taunting me with fireballs." Emma suggested, making Regina scoff at the memory of their playful fight in her kitchen the night before.

"Well then, I expect my grandson to be here tomorrow night at 5:45pm tomorrow - no earlier nor later." Rumple commanded with a smug look on his face, "I'm sure Bae and Belle will find a few things to keep him occupied over night."

Regina nodded and dragged Emma out of the shop by the cuff of her leather jacket. "Henry will stay with you and your parents tonight; I don't want him seeing all of that mess." She waved her hand as a gesture towards the dead in her yard. "You can bring him here and I expect to see you outside my house at exactly 6pm tomorrow evening."

"Okay," Emma smiled as Regina began to turn on her heel to walk away, before Emma grabbed her wrist and pulled the brunette backwards. Before she could think about what she was doing, Emma placed a light kiss on Regina's cheek and let her wrist go. "Good night, Regina. See you tomorrow."


End file.
